Second Chance
by Yeona1709
Summary: It's been months since the death of Maeve Donovan, Dr Spencer Reid's lover. Everyone thinks Spencer is back on track with his life, however he still feels guilty and begins to doubt his ability to keep the people he love safe. Enter Rachel Collins with a mysterious past.Will he be able to help her or will she end up like Maeve? Triggers
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: This book will be set before the incident with Tobias Hankel. For the purpose of the story, everything that happened with Maeve will happen before this story takes place.**

* * *

_**There might be things more terrible even than losing someone you loved by death. **__**C.S. Lewis**_

It was late at night and the team had just come back from a case. Another serial killer was behind bars and the public were once again safe. Everyone was rushing to go home to be with their families. Everyone but Spencer. Unlike the rest of his team, Spencer didn't have anyone to receive him back at home. His mother was in Las Vegas and he didn't even want to think about his father.

It wasn't like he was jealous that his co workers had families to go home to, instead Spencer wished that he had at least someone that would acknowledge him when he came back. Soon the team were leaving the BAU saying goodbye to Spencer. He nodded and wished them a good weekend.

Around 8:00pm, Spencer decided it was time for him to leave as well. Stopping off at a café to get yet another cup of coffee, Spencer found himself walking towards the park, where on a warm day he would go and read. The evening air helped clear his mind as his brain ran through the previous days and the horrible things he saw. With his eidetic memory, Spencer found it hard to forget the things he saw from day to day. So when his mind wasn't occupied with figuring out something or when he wasn't reading, Spencer found himself replaying the most gruesome details of cases that he helped solve down through the years. On particularly bad days, his mind would slip to the cases that affected him the worse. Memories of the death of Maeve, the only woman that looked at him as a lover, would rerun as if he were reliving seeing her die again.

Spencer however was brought out of his inner thoughts by the sight of a figure standing close to the edge of a bridge. By the statue and shape of the figure, Spencer could tell that the figure was a woman. He slowly approached the woman that was standing on the edge of the bridge. His mind for a second went blank, not knowing what to say, but after a second Spencer remember that he was an FBI agent and he spoke to people in difficult situations before.

"Excuse me, I don't know you, but I do know that you are going to regret jumping," Spencer quietly in the hope not to startle the women on the bridge.

The woman turned her face slightly, showing only a bit of her face towards Spencer before looking straight ahead of her, but that was all Spencer needed to see her features. She had milky coffee skin with doe hazel eyes. Spencer couldn't tell what type of hair she had nor the colour. However, he could tell that the woman was around his age or maybe a year or so younger than him.

The woman didn't say a word and moved closer towards the edge of the bridge. By the way she was going, Spencer could tell that she wasn't back down anytime soon.

"You know tonight is beautiful, the sky is clear which isn't normal for this time of year. Now it would be a shame for you to die on such a beautiful night. I'm sure your family would be devastated to hear that you passed-" Spencer said before being cut.

"I don't have any family. The last person I had died a few days ago. Nobody will miss me if I'm gone so please leave, and let me die in peace." the woman said.

"Well you see, I can't do that. You will be on mind and the guilt that will follow me because I wasn't able to help will be unable to help."

"You can always walk away, you don't even know my name and you forget what I look like by the morning," the woman said.

"See, that's the problem, I have eidetic memory which means, I remember everything. So when you're on the news, I will remember that you're the girl that I failed to save," _just like I failed to save Maeve. _Spencer thought.

"Ahhhh! Look! I want to jump and nothing you say will change my mind. However, for some random reason I feel sorry for you, you sound like you've been through a lot or have seen some shit that has affected you. So I'll mercy on you and jump when you leave, but I'm not getting off the ledge." woman said with passion.

Spencer was slightly surprised, if he didn't know better, he would say that he was being profiled by the woman about to give up on life.

"Okay fair solution. Only problem is that I'm not leaving you here, so how about we get something to eat and then maybe, just maybe I'll let you come back here on your own to carry out whatever you want to do." Spencer reasoned because for some reason, he felt like he needed to know this woman better. He felt like there was more to this woman than what she was letting on.

The young woman sighed stubbornly letting Spencer know that she wasn't going to come down without a fight. "My mother always told me not to speak to strangers. Especially if they have a gun on them."

A slight chuckle came through Spencer's throat which he quickly covered up with a cough. He tightened the purple scarf that wrapped around his neck to seal his 'cough'. "Right, sorry, I'm Spencer. And my gun, well let's just say I don't use it unless I have to. Now that you know my name, I think it is only fair for you to tell me your's."

"Rae."

Spencer raised an eyebrow registering that Rae was not giving him her full name. "Okay Rae, I know a place that will still be open that make amazing food. And before you pull I-don't-have-any-on-me-money card on me, I will be paying."

Rae let out a deep sigh. "Do I really have too?"

"Yes."

Rae sighed again before jumping off the ledge near where Spencer was standing. It was only then did Spence see that Rae was using her hair to cover half her face. She was also wearing a long top with a thick black scarf wrapped around her neck, as if to hide something.

Rae bent down and picked up her small suitcase with a bit of a struggle and a grunt. This did not go unnoticed to Spencer.

"Okay. Let's get this over with so we can go back to do what we want to do." Rae said with annoyance resting in her hazel eyes.

"Sure, I'll lead the way." Spencer said making sure Rae was following and slowed his pace down.

_I hope I can save you Rae, otherwise what's the point of doing my job?_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Grief is in two parts. The first is loss. The second is the remaking of life. - Anne Roiphe**_

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They walked in silence and what should have taken a ten minute walk took about fifteen, not that Spencer minded. When they left the park, Spencer realised that he was walking too quick for Rae to follow. In Spencer's mind, he was sure that Rae was injured. She was the same height as JJ and he was currently walking the same speed as he if he was walking with JJ. The minute they started walking, he noticed that Rae had an arm supporting her ribs and she seemed to be in discomfort while pulling her suitcase.

Spencer sighed. If Rae was injured than there was no point her inflicting more pain to herself by pulling the suitcase. "Rae, let me take that suitcase from."

Rae raised her head and raised an eyebrow. Granted, Spencer couldn't tell if she had raised her other eyebrow as the left side of her face was covered by Rae's hair. "I can pull the suitcase thank you."

"I know, but you seem to be in discomfort and I think you know that you would appreciate if someone pulled it for you. I'll give it back to you when we get to the restaurant. I promise." Spencer said.

Rae looked him in the eye before sighing and handed over the suitcase. "You better hand it back to me, otherwise I'm going to call the police and report you for stealing." Rae said while handing over the suitcase.

Spencer suppressed a laugh that wanted to escape. "Of course," while taking the handle from Rae.

They continued to walk in silence until Spencer broke it announcing that they had reached the restaurant. He opened the door and held it for Rae.

Rae smiled, it was nice to see that a guy can be such a gentleman. The smiled was quickly wiped off and she scolded herself. She reminded herself that she was going to kill herself after, and not to get attached to this mysterious man that was willing to try to stop herself from dying.

When sitting down, Rae had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from groaning. Her ribs were sore and maybe even broken, but she wasn't going to let Spencer know that. After she was mildly comfortable, Rae picked up the menu. Maybe a minute or two went by before she put her menu down knowing what she wanted. To be honest, she felt like she was a prisoner about to have her last meal before she died. Rae was going to get lasagna, it was cheap and she didn't want to hurt the man's pocket. She was surprised that Spencer hadn't picked up his menu but rather waiting for her to finish deciding what she wanted to eat.

"You ready to order?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a small portion of lasagna,"Rae replied.

"Okay, what would you like to drink?"

"Water is fine, thanks."

As the waiter came to take the order, Spencer recited everything she wanted, adding what he wanted as well. Once the waiter went, Spencer decided that he wanted to know more about Rae and striked a conversation.

"So Rae, how old are you?"

"27. How old are you?"

"Just turned 28."

Rae nodded and didn't say anything else. Spencer wanted to ask why she was planning to kill herself that night, but felt like it wasn't time to do so. It was about 2 minutes later that their food came both parties began to eat. They eat in silence until Spencer broke it yet again.

"Why did you follow me when you could just jumped?"

"I made a promise not to when you were there. I wasn't about to break it."

"You could have just come down and went back up I left. For all you know, I could be a serial killer, I mean I have a gun." Spencer said in the hope that Rae would open up a bit more to him.

"True, but you're either a cop or a federal agent. Not sure which but I do know that you are one of those two jobs."

This left Spencer speechless.

"Before you think I'm creepy or anything, your badge is on display when you first started talking to me." Rae answered.

Spencer smiled slightly. "You're right. I'm a criminal profiler. It means-"

"That you profile the Unsub and build a background of the Unsub. You question why the Unsub chooses who they chose and look deeper into everything." Rae cut him.

Spencer raised an eyebrow.

"I knew someone who used to be a profiler that's why I know." Rae replied again looking straight ahead. Spencer could see that her mind was trapped in memories, memories that she wasn't about to bring up.

Spencer nodded and decided that he probably wasn't going to get anymore information and eat his food in silence. Once they had finished, Spencer brought his wallet to pay but was stopped by Rae.

"Let me at least pay for my meal." Rae said but it came out more like a question.

"Nope. I said that I was paying, so I'm paying." Spencer said with determined not to let Rae pay for her food.

Rae sighed. "Fine."

When Spencer paid the bill, he stood up and gave Rae her suitcase back.

"Let me walk you out of here and down the main road," Spencer said, even though it sounded more like a command than a suggestion.

Rae nodded. Finally, she would be able to leave this guy and do what she wanted. Rae just hoped that after this everything would be fine. However, she did need to use the restroom.

"Fine, but I need to use the restroom quickly. Here you can even hold my suitcase while I'm in there." Rae said handing the handle again.

"Okay." Spencer said taking the handles again.

Rae nodded and quickly moved in the direction of the restroom. Seeing Rae walking in front of him, Spencer could tell that Rae was also having difficulty walking. This made him question were all her injuries were coming from.

When Rae was in the restroom, she let out a sigh. After finding out that Spencer was a profiler, Rae found herself making sure that she looked well. The last thing she needed was for Spencer to be asking questions she didn't want to answer.

Knowing she was safe from Spencer, Rae lifted her top revealing a deep cut near her ribs. A normal person would have gone to seek medical help, but Rae wasn't normal. Instead she patched herself back together, after all, she was a doctor. And as she looked at cut, her doctor senses told her that if she didn't put pressure on the cut soon, she would soon pass out.

Rae quickly made a makeshift bandage with the tissue that she could find, mentally cursing that she didn't have her suitcase with her.

_It's not like I need a proper bandage. I'm going to be gone soon, so why am I making a bandage again? Oh yes! It's to give me a bit of comfort so that the profiler outside will let me go my separate way. _Rae thought.

After making her wound more manageable, Rae re emerged from the restroom. Spencer was standing by the table waiting for her. It didn't take a genius to see that Spencer was in deep thought, so Rae approached him carefully, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to them.

"Hey, I'm back," Rae said softly.

"Oh hey, ready to go?" Spencer asked.

Rae nodded.

Spencer gave a small smile and nodded towards the door. The both of them walked out the door, with Spencer still pulling the suitcase.

As they started to walk down the road, Rae realised that her breathing was becoming laborious. Taking smaller steps she hoped that nothing would happen while Spencer was with her. Unfortunately for her, Spencer noticed that she was walking even slower than before and once again slowed his pace. When they reached the point where they would separate, Spencer handed back Rae suitcase.

Rae took her suitcase back and felt a dizzy spell wash over her. Once the dizzy spell left, Rae realised that Spencer was looking at her.

She quickly coughed. "Um… Thank you for the food Spencer, I'm sure you have to be somewhere else."

"Not particularly. Are you okay?" Spencer questioned.

"I'm fine thank you." It was a lie that Rae was willing to tell.

"So where are you going to go now?" Spencer asked even though he knew the answer. He hoped he could think of something that would stop her from leaving.

"Back where you found me," Rae replied as another dizzy spell hit her. _I really need to get a move on before I collapse or something in front of this guy. _Rae thought to herself again.

The two of them stood awkwardly in silence. Spencer was thinking of something to say, while Rae was recovering from her dizziness. Once the dizziness passed she was more than ready to leave.

"It was nice meeting you Spencer, but I think it's time we got going don't you?" Rae said.

Spencer murmured in response. "Bye Rae. Please don't do anything stupid."

"I won't," And with that Rae began to walk away pulling her suitcase with her.

Spencer sighed as he watched her go. His brows frowned as he saw how unsteady Rae was while walking. Instead of walking in the direction of his apartment, Spencer kept looking at Rae. Worried that something was going to happen, Spencer followed Rae but kept his distance.

Rae was thankful that she left when she did. She could feel another dizzy spell coming but this time it was worse. Rae heard footsteps behind her but thought she was just being paranoid or the dizziness was affecting her hearing. Her head felt light and her vision was becoming unclear. She stopped walking thinking she was at a crossroad but in fact she had just stopped in the middle of the street for no obvious reason.

It wasn't long before she heard someone shouting her name, before her world turned black.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Through our willingness to help others we can learn to be happy rather than depressed.- Gerald Jampolsky.**_

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Spencer couldn't believe what was happening. Rae was currently unconscious, body limp in his arms. His mind went blank as if his IQ had dropped. The feeling of something wet brought Spencer back to his senses. Looking down, he saw that his dark brown coat had now a wet patch on it.

Blood.

Knowing that he wasn't bleeding, Spencer's mind finally registered with the situation. Rae was bleeding which probably caused her to pass out. He scolded himself for not picking it up earlier that she needed more help than he thought. Using one hand, Spence picked Rae up and pulled her suitcase in the direction of his apartment. He was surprised at how light Rae was.

Once entering his apartment, Spencer gently laid Rae onto his couch before going into his bathroom to find a first aid kit. When he returned, Spencer stopped. He began debating whether he should lift Rae's shirt. He felt he would be violating her in some sort, that being said, Rae needed urgent medical care.

Spencer sighed.

He carefully moved the hair that was covering half of Rae's face. He gasped. Blue and black bruises scattered Rae's face, with a few band-aids covering up cuts. It was obvious that some sort of trauma had happened to Rae. Gently, Spencer undid Rae's shirt and bit back the swear words that wanted to fill his mouth. Yet again, Spencer was speechless.

Rae's stomach was much like her face, covered in bruises. Near Rae's ribs there was a deep looking open cut. Spencer guessed that it was probably made with some sort of knife. He also guessed that it was due to the lack of blood that made Rae faint.

Spencer's mind wondered how these bruising where created and who created them. His first thought was that Rae was being abused by someone and as a result was going to try and kill herself. As he looked at Rae's sleeping face, all he could do was give a sad smile.

_That cut is going to need stitches and her ribs might need to be x ray. I'll let Rae sleep, but when she wakes up, I'm taking her to the hospital, even if it means carrying her there myself. The bandages should hold till she wakes up. Whatever happened to Rae though, I will protect her._ Spencer thought to himself.

When he finished cleaning Rae's wounds, Spencer debated whether to change her blood filled top. He didn't want to invade Rae's personal space, but he didn't want her cut to become infected. After a minute of debating with himself, he decided that he would only change Rae's top. Even if he did have trousers suitable for Rae, Spencer didn't feel comfortable to change Rae. With Rae now changed, Spencer found a book that he was meaning to read and sat down close to Rae.

Rae was aware that she was currently laying down in a comfortable position. She soon recognised the softness of a blanket that was covering her up to the neck. Without much effort, Rae snuggles closer into the warmth of the blanket when she suddenly stopped.

The last thing she could remember was leaving Spencer at the top of the road as she made her way back to the park before everything turned black. Rae froze with fear. Was she with a murder that was going to killer her? And despite earlier that evening,she was on the verge of killing herself, she didn't want someone to do it for her. She wanted to in control of when she passed, not in the hands of someone who wanted to play god.

After taking a deep breath, Rae allowed her eyes to open. Once her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she began to scan the room she was in. In front of her was a bookcase filled with oldish books. She soon realised that her hair was no longer covering the left side of her face but was instead was a ponytail. Quickly looking down, Rae also saw that she was not wearing her top that she was wearing earlier.

Fearing the worst, Rae quickly tried to sit up and move but was soon stopped by a hand pushing her back down. It was Spencer. Rae sighed. Just when she thought she had escaped him, she somehow found herself back with him. Despite her frustration at the situation, she was grateful it was Spencer that found her not someone else.

"Woah! Rae, you're injured. You need to lay down. If you move you will dislodge the bandage that's wrapped around your chest." Spencer said firmly.

It was only then did Rae remember that she had a deep cut. She sighed and held her head low.

"Rae, I want to help you. I don't really care what's happened, I just want to make sure you're fine. So please let me," Spencer said but to Rae it sounded more like he was begging.

Rae raised her head and made eye contact with Spencer. Tears filled her eyes as she saw how genuine Spencer was being. Nobody seemed to care about her; in the eyes of many she was seen as a baggage rather than a human with a purpose. Even those who did help her ever so slightly, they always turned against Rae when they wanted to. Feeling betrayed was something that was prone to Rae.

The memories of those who had betrayed her rushed into Rae's mind allowing the tears to escape causing Rae to sob her heart out. Her body began to shake as the tears flowed.

Spencer didn't know what to do. When he interviewed victims' families, usually another member of the BAU would be the ones to comfort the families not Spencer.

However seeing Rae cry, triggered something in him. Spencer was conscious about the trauma that Rae might be experiencing and gently closed the gap between them and hugged Rae, allowing her to find comfort.

Everything from the last 24hrs finally sunk into Rae's mind. As the tears streamed down her face, Rae gave a slight hiss. Spencer quickly pulled away and looked alarmed.

"Rae, I'm sorry if I invaded your personal space. I'm not really good at comforting people." Spencer whispered.

Rae slowly shook her head motioned to her chest breathing heavily. "No Spencer, I wasn't hissing at you, I was hissing because my wound is throbbing. In fact you really helped me. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything I should be sorry for becoming an unexpected baggage. If you allow me, I'll stay the night and be out of you hair by tomorrow morning." Rae rambled.

"Rae, listen to me. You are not baggage. If I thought you were, I wouldn't have tried to help at the bridge. Furthermore, I wouldn't have carried you home when you collapsed. I could have called an ambulance and then left you or just left you bleeding out. But I didn't. However, I do need to take you to the hospital to get a proper look at the cut. The last thing we want is for that to become infected."

"No hospitals."

"Rae, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. You need to see a professional."

"Spencer, no hospital. I mean it."

"I'm not arguing with you, Rae. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Well technically aren't we arguing?" Rae asked raising an eyebrow. "And if you take me to a hospital without my permission, isn't that kidnapping. And that wouldn't look good with you being an FBI agent and all. And anyways, we don't need a professional, we already have one."

"First of all, how did you know I worked for the FBI, and to be honest with you the FBI only taught me the basics about patching up wounds. So, we need to go to the hospital."

"Your badge is on the table and I know that badge belongs to the FBI." Rae said in a 'duh' tone. "And I wasn't talking about you dummy. I'm a doctor that works in the ER. Pass the suitcase over."

Spencer glared at Rae for a few seconds before doing what she asked him to do. When handing over the suitcase, Rae opened it with a grunt and a hand shot to her side.

"Easy, Rae. We don't want you bleeding out. Let me help you."

"Thanks," muttered Rae. She wasn't used to allowing someone else to help her. Instead she preferred to do things on her own, that way if things failed, she would only have herself to blame.

Once the suitcase was opened, Rae rummaged, before pulling out rubber gloves, anti bacterial wipes, a needle with some surgical thread, a needle filled with some clear liquid and some pain killers.

Rae glanced at Spencer and contemplated whether to fix her wound in front of him or wait for him to leave. After much thought she decided that he could stay, he already saw the extent of the wound already. With a bit of trouble, Rae was able to remove her top, and began to undo the bandage that Spencer had wrapped.

While glaring at the gaping wound, Rae soon came to the realisation that she was going to need assistance.

She sighed.

"Spencer… I wouldn't normally ask but I didn't realise how bad the wound was. Do you think you… You know…" Rae feebly asked.

"Yes Rae, I will help. I'm not that squeamish." Spencer said while pulling on the gloves.

"Okay I'll direct you," Rae said.

Spencer nodded.

"Okay, if you hold the skin around the wound, I'll injected this needle into me. And before you ask, it's local anaesthetic. It will numb the area around the wound allowing me to stitch it later." Rae explained.

Spencer nodded and noted how Rae spoke. She spoke as if she was training someone. This meant that her role in the ER was probably to help the new doctors which probably meant that she was a register.

Once the skin was numbed, Rae then asked Spencer to clean the wound with antibacterial wipes, just to make sure that surfaces of the skin and wound were clean before stitching. Rae stitched, which Spencer was grateful for. It would have been his first time and Spencer was sure that practising on a real human wasn't the best idea. While Rae re-wrapped the now stitched wound, Spencer went to fetch her some water.

_What the hell am I doing?_ Spencer thought to himself. _I have a complete stranger in my house. I've just helped her stitched herself back together. I comforted her when she was crying and I have offered to help her. What would Morgan think or even Hotch?_ Spencer asked himself as his mind thought about his fellow work colleagues which he considered as the closest thing to family. _No, I promised to help Rae. I'm not about to let that promise slip through. My job is to help people not turn them away and if I can't help someone that's on my doorstep what's the point of doing this job? _Spencer was more determined to help Rae after his small prep talk.

Rae was also was deep in thought as she wrapped her wound. _Am I really allowing this stranger to help me? I know I'm going to get hurt in the end. He'll break his promise just like the rest of them. But I do have nothing to loss. I mean, with Jackson gone, what's the point in living? But if Jackson was still here, he would have wanted me to live on and become happy, not try and hurt myself. Fine. The minute I find that Spencer has broken his promise, I will kill myself. If a generous person like Spencer can't help me, nobody will be able to._

Rae was brought out of her deep thoughts when a glass of water was handed to her. Giving a small smile, Rae accepted the water and took the pain killers then downed the remaining water.

She looked gratefully at Spencer.

"Spencer, I know you want to know what drove me to the bridge tonight-" Rae began.

"Rae, you don't have to tell me now. You should rest, those pain killers will soon kick in and you are exhausted. If you want to tell me your story, tell me tomorrow when you are more refreshed. You are going to need the sleep." Spencer cut her.

Rae nodded, silently thanking Spencer. If the truth must be known, Rae was beginning to feel sleepy, figuring the pain killers were kicking in.

"I'll see you in the morning Rae," Spencer whispered seeing how for gone Rae was.

Rae didn't respond as she was already in a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_**If you hung out with me for too long, I'll brainwash you into believing in yourself and knowing you can achieve anything.-Unknown**_

* * *

For both Spencer and Rae, the night brought them nightmares. It was safe to say that they were pleased when the sun rose declaring morning. Spencer got out of bed and went straight to the kitchen to make some coffee. He poked his head to see Rae was awake but staring straight ahead as if she was in a daydream. Not sure how to bring Rae out her daze, Spencer stayed where he was waiting for Rae to notice him.

When Rae finally noticed Spencer, a light blush was seen on her cheeks.

"Morning," Rae whispered gently rubbing her eyes. "I hope you weren't waiting too long for me."

"Don't worry Rae, I was just getting some coffee and wanted to know if you wanted any."

Rae thought for a moment. "Umm… Well technically, I shouldn't be drinking coffee seeing the medication I'm taking. But I need it, so yes please."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Black or with milk? And how many sugars?"

"With milk and two sugars please." Rae asked

Spencer nodded and left the room.

As soon as Spencer was out of sight, Rae let out a sigh. Last night due to the painkillers and exhaustion, Rae had promised to tell Spencer about her injuries. This was the last thing she wanted to happen. Rae wasn't ready for someone new to know about her past. Those who knew her past, always used it against her, and as a result, damaged Rae in the worst way possible. Rae just hoped that Spencer would understand that she wasn't quite ready to tell him her life story.

While Spencer was making the coffees, he too was thinking. He thought about the previous night and remembered how Rae had promised to tell him her story. However, Spencer could tell that Rae wasn't ready to tell him. It was clear that Rae had trust problems, and despite helping Rae last night, Spencer was still as stranger to Rae. Spencer quickly decided that he wouldn't push Rae to tell him. Furthermore, Spencer told himself that would not profile Rae either.

Once the coffees were done, Spencer brought them into the living room at set Rae's cup on the coffee table.

"Rae, where are the painkillers? I think it's time to take them," Spencer said.

"Gosh, you sound like a mother Spencer." Rae gently laughed, causing Spencer to smile and blush ever so lightly.

It was known the team, Spencer wasn't the best when dealing with females. To be honest, Spencer was surprised how well everything was going with Rae. He hadn't rambled on and hadn't brought up any statics.

Rae took her painkillers and watched Spencer as he brought a chair closer to her.

Rae winced. It was time to tell Spencer her story. Or the part she was willing to share. But before she could say anything, Spencer beat her to it.

"From last night, you wanted to tell me what happened to. However, I can tell that you don't feel comfortable telling me, and I'm fine with that, we have just met after all. We both have demons to deal with and sometimes we don't want to tell others. I don't see you as someone who is weak. Nor do I want you to feel ashamed. However, I do know that I want to help you." Spencer said sincerely.

Rae listened grateful that Spencer understood the pain that she was going through.

"Thank you Spencer. Despite me not ready to share my story quite yet, I still need to tell you who I am. It's the least I can do. For all you know, I could be a murder hiding from the police and using you as a sacrifice. Not that I am," Rae explained.

Spencer already knew Rae wasn't a murder, she didn't have the traits of a murder.

"I doubt that you are a murder but if it put your mind to rest, then sure, tell me what you want." Spencer said.

Rae took a deep breath. "My name is Rachel Sofia Collins; to people I don't really know that well, I prefer them to call Rae but I guess you can call me Rachel if you want. I'm 27 years old. I was brought up in California. I moved here when I was 19. As I said last night, I am an ER doctor, however I specialise in paediatric care."

Spencer noted how Rae didn't speak about her family, even though she mentioned where she was brought up. Not wanting to push Rae further, he tried to lighten the mood.

"So… You're a doctor?"asked Spencer.

Rae looked up at him uncertain. "Yes…"

"So all this time I should have been calling you Dr Rachel?" Spencer teased.

It took a minute for Rachel to process what Spencer said. And then she started laughing.

"Well in your defence, I didn't tell you until just now. It's just that when I tell people that I'm a doctor, they usually assume I'm fresh out of medical school. But in fact I'm actually a consultant. Then they ask me how old I am, and say that I'm a bit young to be a consultant. Soon after they start to look down at me because of my age, not only that they think I cheated they system to get where I am. They don't even consider that maybe, just maybe I'm smart. And when they do, they start teasing me, calling me nerd or something. Sorry… I've been told that I ramble a lot." Rae said slightly blushing.

Spencer starting laughing. "I know exactly how you feel Rae. Usually I'm the person that is apologises for rambling on, especially when I knew the subject well."

Rae looked slightly blank at this statement.

"Like I told you yesterday, I have eidetic memory. I can also read 20,000 words per minute and have an IQ level of 187. I have 3 BAs and another 3 PhDs. So yes I am a-"

"Genius." Rae finished for him.

"Yeah… But for the same reasons as you, I don't like telling people that I'm a genius. Usually, I actually try to avoid the term genius as comes from Latin. It originally meant guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth. It feels weird when someone calls me that. Oops, sorry, you didn't ask for a lecture. See! I told you I rambled." Spencer finished.

All Rae could do was laugh. "I think the reason I ramble is because of my IQ. I just have too much going on and I need to let it out somehow."

"What is your IQ?"

"176. To other people I sound smart but after hearing about your IQ, I feel a little dumb." Rachel said.

"Hey, your IQ is still high," Spencer said. "Just not as high as mine." He teased.

The two of them looked at each other before starting to laugh slightly.

For Spencer, he felt weird. Rae was the second person he connected with that wasn't part of the BAU. It was easy to have a conversation with Rae. When she wasn't being closed off, she could communicate with Spencer on a deeper level. This gave him shivers down his spine. The last person that Spencer felt this connection was with Maeve and she ended up dead. Spencer gulped. He didn't want the same to happen to his new friend.

Rachel looked at Spencer with the side eye. It had been the first time for over two weeks that she was able to laugh and not worry that someone was watching her. For the first time in a long time she felt free. Rachel felt like she could speak to Spencer and not feel judged. The fact that he was comfortable with the information that she gave and didn't push her, made her believe that she was making the right choice in trusting in Spencer. Rae let out a silent sigh. The last time she trusted someone was Jackson, and well… She didn't want to think about what happened to him. It would ruin her mood and she might begin to rethink everything that she had done in the last 12 hours.

As Rachel was thinking, she came to the realisation that she would need to ask Spencer to help her get home. With her stitches, she wouldn't be able to walk for at least a week. The last thing she wanted to do was to become a burden to the guy that had just saved her life.

"Um… Spencer, when we are done, will you be able to drop me home? I don't think I'll be able to make my own way."

The question brought Spencer out of his thoughts. "Who said I'm letting you go home?"

This shocked Rachel.

"What do you mean Spencer? I can't live on your couch and I'll soon become a burden. It's fine. I'll give you my number and even my address, so you can contact me and see how I am. But there is no way I'm staying another day here! I'm going to become a nuisance!"

Spencer sighed. Rachel was one hell of a stubborn person, however, she wasn't at all as stubborn as some murders that Spencer had broke in his time. Convincing Rae was going to be a piece of cake.

"Okay Rachel. You win. If your ready, I'll can take you now." Seeing Rae nod, Spencer started getting up.

Rachel was yet again surprised. She didn't think it would have been so easy to convince Spencer to let her leave. Rae tried to sit up gently, despite this, pain shot through the area near her ribs.

Rachel let out a gasp and laid back down. Spencer looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"If that was anything, that was a sigh Rae. For now, you can't be on your own. You can't even sit up, how do you think you are going to be able to move about in your house? You're staying here and that's final. You are not going to be a burden." Spencer said firmly.

Tears filled Rae's eyes. The last time someone was the firm about something was Jackson. He was the one who helped her become a consultant. But now he was gone. Despite not really knowing Spencer well, she didn't want to lose him. Normally people who wanted to help Rae usually got tired of Rachel shutting them out. Only Jackson and a couple of people knew that the only way to gain Rachel's trust was to be persistent. Spencer was being persistent and he was slowly gaining Rachel's trust.

"Everyone says that I'm not a burden, then one day I am and they leave alone." Rae muttered to herself tearfully. She said it so quietly, and it was clear that Spencer wasn't supposed to have heard it, but he did.

"Rae, I think from our conversation you can tell I'm not everyone. I will never think of you as a burden." Spencer said softly.

Rachel wasn't someone who cried often. She learnt from a young age that crying wasn't going to fix anything, instead it makes you feel vulnerable. Even though Rachel knew this, she broke down in tears.

Within seconds, Spencer was hugging her and letting her cry into his shirt. As the faint smell of coconut filled Spencer's nose, he was reminded about how usually he was uncomfortable around women. However, Rachel was different. He felt like he could be who he was without fearing that Rae saw him as weird.

When he finished work yesterday, Spencer never imagined that he would be comforting a girl in his own apartment.

After crying for about 5 minutes, Rae looked up at Spencer and tried to lighten the mood.

"So when are we going to my apartment so I can get some clothes? I can't wear your clothes while I'm here." Rae joked.

Spencer frowned slightly. "Why can't you wear can you wear my clothes? You look fine in them."

"Dr Spencer…"

"Reid," filled in Spencer.

"Dr Spencer Reid, are you flirting with me?" Rae laughed.

Spencer's cheeks went a flaming red. Was he flirting with Rachel? He hadn't flirted with anyone since Maeve.

"I… er… maybe…" Spencer flustered.

"Oh! Spencer, I teasing you."

Spencer rolled his eyes thinking about how stupid he must look in front of Rachel.

"Come one then, let's go get your things," Spencer composed himself turning away and starting to get up.

"Umm… Spencer…"

"Yeah."

"Can you um… help me?" Rae asked sheepishly, remembering how earlier she was sure that she would be able to live on her own, even though she could barely sit up. A guy who wasn't even a doctor knew that, yet the doctor that she was, didn't know. She laid there wondering why she was a doctor.

Spencer seeing how embarrassed Rae looked didn't make mention about the earlier incident. Instead, he helped her up.

_There is more to Rachel Collins then she's letting on. _Spencer thought.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Not telling me something or hiding something on purpose is just the same as lying. -Unknown**_

* * *

It took over 5 minutes for Rae and Spencer to get in the car. Then another 20 minutes for them to reach Rachel's apartment. Thankfully the elevator was working and it wasn't long before they were standing outside her door.

Rae limped into her apartment with Spencer close behind her and placed her keys in a bowl near the front door.

"Make yourself at home Spencer. I have a coffee machine and some food in the fridge. I shouldn't take too long. If you need anything, just give me a shout." Rae said.

Spencer nodded and Rae shuffled into her room. Despite wanting to help her, Spencer knew better. Rae probably wanted some privacy and things might become awkward rather quickly. Trying to find something to distract him, Spencer remembered that there was coffee and made a dash for it.

Rachel's heart was breaking. Her room was a mess. Glass fragments scattered her room. Picture that once hung on her wall were knocked off their positions. Remembering that Spencer was only in the room next door, Rae quickly retrieved the things she would need when staying at Spencer's. Just as she was about to leave her room, Rae took one last look at a picture that was on the floor.

It was of her and Jackson.

Feeling different emotions running through her, Rachel slammed the door shut and let out a sigh.

While Spencer waited for Rachel, he couldn't help but look at some pictures that were in the living room. There was a picture that really stood out to him. It was in the centre of all the pictures and the frame looked more expensive than the other frames. In the picture, Rae was smiling with her arms wrapped around a man around Spencer's age. He had jet black hair and vibrant green eyes. In the corner of the picture, written small was the date, dating back to about three years ago.

The slam of a door made Spencer turn around.

"Rae, let me carry that bag. I don't want to aggravate the stitches if it can be avoided."

"There's some bread in the fridge that we can take with us, otherwise it's going to get mouldy." Rae explained.

"Sure. However, on the way back, I'm going to need to stop of a shop to get some food." Spencer said.

"Can we get some doughnuts? I know a place that sell amazing doughnuts." Rae practically begged.

Spencer laughed. "Yeah we can."

* * *

_**Three days later**_

Having a male roommate wasn't as bad as Rae thought it was going to be. Spencer gave her privacy and didn't make her feel uncomfortable. It was almost as if they had always lived together.

The two of them soon fell into a routine. Rae would wake up a little earlier than Spencer to get the coffee ready and make a start on some breakfast for the both of them. Spencer would soon wake up and start getting ready for work making sure he packed everything in his messenger bag. When Rachel found out that Spencer usually didn't have lunch or would buy something from the shop, she made it her business to make sure he had a healthy lunch. Sometimes it might be sandwiches, others times maybe pasta. Either way, Spencer left home with a nutritious lunch with him.

Spencer would go to work and for the last three days, he didn't have cases. As soon as it was an appropriate time, Spencer left work. He usually when he came home he would find Rachel preparing dinner. When Rae started her stay with him, Spencer said that he couldn't cook and to his surprise, Rachel laughed and said it was fine. Since then Rachel always cooked and Spencer would clean up. When the dinner things were put away, they would watch something and talk until they felt tired and they went to bed.

Rachel for the last few days stayed at home. Spencer was slightly confused. He never heard Rae speak to anyone from her work, in fact Spencer doesn't remember hearing Rae speak to anyone other than him. She had her mobile but Spencer never saw her using it. On the third day Spencer decided he would ask Rachel about her work and see if he could any information. Even though, Spencer could have easily just asked Garcia to search for Rachel's name, Spencer wanted to keep Rae as secret. He wasn't ready for everyone to know that he was helping someone and he wasn't ready to have an earful of why you shouldn't take a stranger into your house.

When Spencer reached home, Rae was preparing dinner. He greeted her and made his way to his room to change his clothes. Once he was finished, Spencer decided he would grab a snack and slip in his question to Rae.

"Hey, Rae, what's for dinner?" Spencer asked casually.

"Spaghetti Bolognese with cheese," Rae said. "How was work?"

Spencer grinned to himself. He knew Rachel would ask this question and she would fall right into his trap.

"There was no cases, so we ended up doing some paperwork." Spencer paused for a few seconds. "Have you spoken to you superiors at work?"

Rachel for a second froze then quickly resumed to what she was doing. "I've been calling in sick for the last two days. Today when I spoke to them, I was able to take ten days off. That should give the wound enough time to heal." Rae said evenly.

_She's lying. _Spencer thought. _Her body became more tense when she spoke about work. I'm surprised she's going back to work on the weekend, even though she is a doctor. It's either that she doesn't have a week off or there is another reason why she's not at work and it has nothing to do with her injuries._

Spencer left the topic and began to speak about how much he was looking forward to watching the new Doctor Who episode that was out later that night. He watched as Rae's body loosened up. Her shoulders became more relaxed and she spoke easily.

When dinner was finished and cleaned away, they settled in to watch the new episode. Once it was finished, Rachel made an excuse, saying she was extremely tired and went to bed. Spencer looked at the clock, it was only 21:30 and from the last two nights that Rae had been staying, she went to bed at 22:30. She was an hour early.

Spencer instantly thought it was something to do his question about work. He sighed. Spencer was now certain that Rae was hiding something, but he let it slide.

* * *

_**A week later**_

After the conversation about Rachel going back to work, Spencer didn't bring it up again which Rae was thankful for. She knew she had lied about when she was due back at work and she felt guilty. That was why she went to bed early that night, as she feared she might tell Spencer the truth.

_I'm supposed to go back to work tomorrow, however what I didn't tell Spencer is that I'm actually off work for a month. And because I was stupid, I told Spencer that I'm due back at work tomorrow. Tomorrow is the weekend. This also means that if Spencer doesn't have a case tomorrow, he will be in his apartment, and seeing that he's being a mother hen over me, he's going to want to drop me work. If Spencer finds out that I actually have a month off, he's going to ask why I lied to him. And if I tell him why I lied to him, I will have to tell him the truth about everything. _Rae thought in a panic.

Throughout the day, these thoughts ran through Rae's mind and she was on edge. It was around 8:30pm that Rae's mind was put at rest.

**Hey Rae, I've just got a case and won't be coming home tonight. I'm sorry that I won't be able to drop you to work tomorrow. Anyways, I got a spare key and put it near the TV. Have a good night. -Spencer**

Guilt began to eat at Rae again as she read the text. Sure she was glad that Spencer wouldn't be here to see through her lies, she couldn't help but think about the betrayal she was doing. In her time, Rachel had seen her fair share of betrayal and it felt wrong that she was doing it to someone that was helping her. Not feeling like eating, Rachel decided to call it a night and went to bed.

Not that she was going to get much sleep.

* * *

Spencer sighed. He was finally home.

The case pretty much an open and close case as the Unsub slipped up leaving some DNA behind. Spencer was emotionally drained and was grateful that he could sleep in the comfort of his own bed. His mind wandered to Rae and wished that he was able to drop her off at work. He was curious to see whether she went in to work or not.

When he entered his apartment, he saw all the evidence he needed to safely say that Rae didn't go into work that day. The spare key was still in its original position. In the sink, there was dishes even though Rae always cleaned up after herself.

As he inspected the living room, Rachel emerged from the guest bedroom dressed in her pj's. She soon locked eyes with Spencer as he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh hey Spencer, your back, I guess you closed that case," Rae said nervously as she drew her sleeves closer to her hand.

"Yeah, the Unsub left his DNA at one of the crime scenes." Spencer said. "How did work go?"

Rae glupped, which didn't go unnoticed by Spencer. "I didn't actually go to work today. I was feeling a bit under the weather when I got up." She lied again.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I had a bit of a headache coming on, so I called in ill." Rae lied.

She soon hoped Spencer would stop his line of questioning as she was beginning to feel worse, the more lies she spoke.

Spencer knew Rae was lying but wasn't going to ask her.

Just like when Rae lied before, she went to bed early, claiming that her headache was getting worse. Spencer nodded and left her alone.

When it was about 11:30pm, Spencer decided to call it a night and went to bed. Throughout the night, Spencer tossed and turned as nightmares prevented him from getting any sleep. After about the sixth nightmare had ended, Spencer couldn't take anymore and decided it was just better to stay awake.

With his body being exhausted from his line of work, Spencer went into the kitchen to make coffee. Spencer carried his cup back into his room and found a few books that he was meaning to read. After about half an hour of reading, Spencer heard some yelling.

It was Rachel.


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning: This chapter contains, triggers such as mention of abuse, blood, self harm and death. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed/ commented on this book, it means a lot to me.**

* * *

_**The only time a goodbye is painful is when you know you'll never say hello again.- Unknown**_

* * *

In a slight panic, Spencer stopped reading and reached for his off duty gun. He quietly made his way to the guest room where Rachel was sleeping, gun raised.

He mentally prepared himself.

When he opened the door he saw Rachel yelling in her sleep and thrashing around.

"Chloe stop! I didn't mean for it to happen! I couldn't save him! He was too far gone! I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. Please don't hurt me Chloe!" Rae yelled over and over again.

Spencer quickly put his gun down and raced to the side of the bed. If Rachel kept thrashing around, she will soon undo her stitches.

"Rae, wake up. It's a nightmare. Wake up it's okay." Spencer said gently.

"Chloe! I'm sorry!"

"Rae! It's a dream, it will end when you wake up. Please, just wake up!"

As Spencer spoke, Rae began to flail her arms around as if she was trying to protect herself from a hit. Spencer gently grabbed Rae's arms and held them firmly. He then began to gently shake Rae awake.

Rae woke up with a gasp. She lifted her head and made eye contact with Spencer.

She was embarrassed and confused. Wasn't Chloe just standing in front of her? Where did she go and why was Spencer currently kneeling on the floor holding her arms?

Tears filled her eyes and she broke down. Spencer froze and realised that Rae was going into a panic attack.

Quickly getting up from the floor he sat on the bed and embraced Rae. Tears flowed down Rae's cheek as cried into Spencer's top. With Rae not being able to slow down her breathing, Spencer began to be a pacemaker.

"I'm sorry," Rae whispered tearfully.

"Shhh. It's okay Rae but I need you to calm down. Match my breathing pattern." Spencer said gently.

It wasn't long before Rae's breathing was matching Spencer's. Soon her breathing became even and Spencer looked down.

Rachel was falling back to sleep.

"Please stay," Rachel begged sleepily.

"Okay Rae. Go back to back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." Whispered Spencer.

Just like he promised, when Rae woke up later that morning, Spencer was laying next to her asleep.

Memorise of the night before flooded her. She remembered having the nightmare about Jackson and Chloe. She remembered having a panic attack and she also remembered crying and begging Spencer to stay with her.

Rachel gently moved Spencer's arms and went into the kitchen to make something to eat for the both of them. As she made some pancakes, she thought about the day before. She knew that she couldn't keep lying to Spencer, it was wrong. And she couldn't deal with the guilt for much longer.

By the time Spencer had woken up, the pancakes were made and there was a cup of coffee with his name on it.

He found Rae looking blankly at the TV screen.

Spencer grabbed the food that was made, the cup of coffee and sat down to watch whatever was on. When he finished he was about to get up when Rae stopped him.

"The nightmare you woke me up from actually happened. I was reliving the hours before you found me on the bridge. I'm tired of lying to you. You deserve to know the truth." Rachel whispered.

Spencer sat closer to Rachel and motioned for her to speak.

"For you to understand the story fully, I need to start from the beginning. Since the day I was born, I was brought up in the foster system. I was never adopted but was moved from house to house. When I was about 9, I meant Jackson. He was 13 when I first meet him. We were put together in a foster home and seeing as space was tight, I was forced to share a room with him.

At first, we didn't really get on. I mean, I was a girl that still thought boys were weird and he was probably annoyed that he had to share his room.

As a child who never really anyone to love or for anyone to love me,I kept myself to myself. If I didn't have to talk to someone, I wouldn't. And as a result, I was bullied by those my age.

One day, after I came home from school, one of the bullies pushed me and I fell on the pavement. I feel on knees and they began to bleed. I began to cry at the bullies began to call me a cry baby as they circled me. All I remember is hearing them chant my name and then all of a sudden there was shouting and of ring of bullies soon disappeared. Jackson was there shouting at the bullies telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves. As the bullies looked down, Jackson scooped me up in his arms and carried me into our bedroom. He helped clean my knee and hugged me, telling me if the bullies ever hurt me again, that I had to tell him straight away.

In my nine year old eyes, Jackson was my hero. About two days later, I accidently found out that Jackson was self harming. I didn't know what he was doing at the time, but I saw him crying. I ran to him and him that no one was going to hurt my hero. If anyone was going to hurt my hero, he was to come and tell me straight away. Jackson looked at me tearfully and pulled me close into a hug.

After that day, we bonded. I found out that he lost his parents and little brother when he was 8. It later dawned on me that Jackson saw me as his little sister and best friend.

As we grow older, Jackson and I became inseparable. When Jackson moved to another foster home without me, the social worker had to peel me off him. That day, I refused to eat and drink. I refused to talk to anyone unless they were going to bring Jackson back to me. Everyone was worried about me. Two days later another social worker came to take me to another foster home. I was reunited with Jackson and much to the relief of everyone, I began to eat, drink and talk again.

It was later put on both of our records that if anyone was going to foster one of us, they would need to foster the both of us. This stopped us from getting fostered or even adopted. People tended to like one of us, not both of us. Or they were only looking for one child to foster or adopt.

When Jackson turned 18, I was 14. Jackson left the foster home, I ran away from the foster home. I knew where Jackson was living and went there. Even though I begged him not to call the cops to let them know where I was, he did anyways. And to this day, I'm extremely grateful. The social worker decided that it would be a good idea if I moved in with Jackson and once a week, a social worker would come and inspect.

This went on till I was 18 and was released from the system. Jackson was a big advocate of education and as a result, I was able to make it into my dream college and go to medical school.

Fast forward a few years, I was a fully qualified doctor and I was even a consultant. I found people in my job that I saw as family. Jeff was the doctor who trained me, was like a father and his wife, Hannah, was clinical lead, was like the mother I never had. There other people that we like siblings and then there was my other best friend Rebecca. Everyone knew about my relationship with Jackson, as sometimes he would pick me up from work or just drop by to see me.

Jackson had a girlfriend that he loved dearly. Her name was Chloe. Chloe and I didn't really get on well, but for the sake of Jackson we got on.

However the night you found me on the bridge changed the life for all three of us." Rae paused as tears fell from her eyes.

"Rachel, you don't have to continue if you don't want to," Spencer said gently.

"No, I need to tell you what happened." Rae sobbed. "I was working my normal shift in the ER when Hannah called all the doctors to attention. She told us that a car crash happened and there were four victims and all doctors were needed.

It was only when I saw Chloe crying as a trolley was brought in, that I realised that Jackson was one of the victims. And just my luck, I was the doctor that had to deal with Jackson.

Everything was going fine. I was able to stop the blood flow. Hannah even checked everything. Jackson spoke to me. He called me his little hero and told how grateful that his 'baby sister' was the one to save him.

As I was about to Jackson moved to a ward, his heart monitor went off and he was struggling to breath.

I tried everything, Spencer. Everything.

But nothing I did helped. In fact, I believe I made it worse. I yelled for Hannah, and Hannah tried everything. But Jackson was too far gone.

His heart stopped.

I tried shocking him three times but it wouldn't work. Hannah had to yank the defibrillators out of my hands. And as she said Jackson's name and the time he died, I lost it.

I broke down.

I started yelling and screaming, telling Hannah and other doctors that we could still save him. He wasn't gone yet. There was still hope. But as I looked at their faces, it was clear that there was nothing more to be done." Tears fell from Rae's eyes as she spoke.

Spencer brought her into a tight hug as she sobbed. When Rachel collected herself, she continued.

"I couldn't tell Chloe.

I begged Hannah and asked her to tell Chloe for me. She agreed and gave me a month of compassionate leave. Rebecca tried to calm me down after hearing what happened to Jackson, however, I just need to get out of the hospital. She thankfully understood and left me alone.

I went home and cried. I hit every picture that reminded me of Jackson. His last words to me rang in my ears. I failed my hero.

What was the point of being a doctor if I couldn't save the person who loved me before anyone else did?

Two hours after I came home, I heard a knock at the door. It was Chloe.

We had an argument that took place in my room. She was clearly upset and all I could say was that I was sorry. I knew sorry wouldn't cut it and so did she. She slapped me across the face and when I fell to the floor, she kicked me repeatedly in my ribs.

It reminded me of the day Jackson saved me from the bullies, however, no matter how many times I cried for Jackson to come and save me, he never came. I mean of course he didn't come.

He was dead and it was my fault.

I rolled over, and as I rolled, the glass from the picture frames gave me that cut. When Chloe saw the blood, she stopped kicking me and told me that if I couldn't save the person that saw me as their little sister, what was the point in living? She said that Jackson had told her multiple times how we were inseparable. She said that seeing that Jackson was died, I should join him. She used what she knew about my childhood against me, hurting me on purpose.

When Chloe left, I pulled myself off the floor and slightly cleaned my cut. After that, I took a small suitcase and filled it with random stuff, along with my suicide note. Then I made my way to the place where both Jackson and I loved. The bridge.

When we first moved here, Jackson took me to the bridge and told me as long as we were close to a river or a source of water, we will be close to each other.

I was going to take my final breath, until you stopped me.

Last night, the nightmare I had was of the incident I had will Chloe. You woke me up before she could tell me to kill myself. And to be frank, if she did tell me to go kill myself, I probably would have tried too.

And there you go Spencer, you now know the truth of me.

I'm sorry I lied to you about going to work. I just wasn't ready for all that sympathy, knowing I technically killed my brother." Rachel choked up.

The tears still flowed down her cheek and she clung onto Spencer shirt.

Spencer held Rachel against his chest rubbing circles on her back calming her down.

They sat in silence and all that could be heard was the ticking of the clock, the soft dialogue from the TV and Rachel's sobs.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be- Abraham Lincoln.**_

* * *

Rae and Spencer sat in silence.

Even though she had stopped crying, Rachel didn't want to leave Spencer's hug. As she hugged Spencer, she felt like a huge weight was taken off her shoulders.

Spencer hugged Rachel and allowed her to cry into his shirt. He didn't really know what to say when Rachel spoke so he sat in silence. But now felt like silence was the best course of action. When Rachel's sobs had died down, Spencer rubbed circles into Rachel back to calm her down.

When her sobs had finished, Rachel spoke. "I'm sorry that you had to see me like this, I don't really like other people seeing me cry." She started but was soon stopped by Spencer.

"Rachel, you have nothing to be sorry for. Crying is a sign that you are human and have feelings. You went through something traumatic, of course you are upset."

"But I couldn't save Jackson though." Rae sobbed.

"No, but from what you said, it seems like no doctor would have been able to save him. You said that Hannah, a more experienced doctor, checked everything you did and there was no fault. This means that you are not to blame for Jackson's death. Instead, it is the driver who caused the car crash in the first place. Do you get what I'm saying Rae?" Spencer asked?

Rae nodded as she looked down to where her wound was.

"Okay, this leads me to my next question. Rachel, am I the first person that you have told about the incident that happened with Chloe?"

"Yes," Rachel whispered.

Spencer sat up and pushed Rachel so she was facing him. "Rae, I need you to listen to me well. Are you going to push charges against Chloe. She assaulted you and could go down for manslaughter or even attempted murder."

Rachel thought for a few seconds before whispering, "I don't want to push charges. She was grieving for someone she loves and in her eyes she saw me as the person who didn't save him. I get that technically, I should press charges, but I couldn't do that to the woman that was Jackson's lover."

"Maybe then a visit from a FBI agent will bring her back to her senses." Spencer mumbled so quietly that Rachel didn't hear it. Despite respecting Rae's views, half of him wanted Chloe to be punished for hurting Rae physically and emotionally.

"What was Chloe's surname?"

"Jenkins"

Spencer nodded.

"So when do you actually go back to work then Rae? Because I know for sure it wasn't yesterday."

Rae laughed gently. "I go back to work in the next three months. And I'm sorry for lying to you. I just didn't want to tell you. I wasn't ready to…"

"Accept that Jackson was gone," Spencer finished.

"Yeah…"

"It's okay Rae, I get it. Not everyone is willing to show the demons that's hidden." Spencer said.

There was silence again, which was soon broken by the stomach rumble of Rae's tummy. She laughed embarrassed but Spencer took no notice of it.

"Hey Rae, I fancy some cupcakes, want to help me make some?" Spencer asked.

"By help do you mean make the cupcakes and you help me?" Rae asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes?" Spencer asked sheepishly.

"Come one then, these cupcakes aren't going to make themselves."

* * *

_**Two days later.**_

Spencer had left for work with a soft smile on his face after having a fantastic weekend with Rachel. After they had made the cupcakes, Rachel showed Spencer how to ice them and even though he made a mess of it, he was glad that his attempts put a smile one Rachel's face. When the cupcakes were cooled and iced, they ate them and left some for the week to come. They later watched some Star trek and Spencer was overjoyed when Rachel pointed out some of the physic mistakes.

On Sunday, they went back to Rachel's house to get more clothes plus Rae's uniform, her laptop and some work for her to do while she was at home resting. When Rachel entered her room she broke down and her sobs made Spencer come into her bedroom. It was then that he saw the extent of what Chloe had done.

For someone that rarely got angry, Spencer felt his blood boil when he saw all the glass fragments that were on the floor. He tried to convince Rachel to press charges saying that there was enough evidence, but Rachel held her ground. So instead of arguing with Rae, Spencer helped her clean the room up.

After going to Rachel's house, the two of them made a quick stop and the Chinese restaurant and got some food to go and back to Spencer's apartment and watched Doctor Who.

Despite having a wonderful weekend, Spencer couldn't get Rae's messy room out of his mind. With his eidetic memory, Spencer could remember every little detail of the placement of glass fragments. His blood yet again began to boil and decided that he needed to pay Chloe Jenkins a visit.

Only one thing that stood in the way. Spencer had no idea where Chloe lived. If he asked Rachel, it would be a bit obvious of what his plan was. That was when Garcia came in.

When it was about lunch time, Spencer went into Garcia's office. She was tapping away at her computer but when she heard the door open, she turned around.

"Hey Junior-G-Man, what can this beautiful goddess do for you?" Gracia asked.

"Can you track down a person for me?" Spencer asked.

Gracia gave him a look. "Are you seriously asking me _IF_ I can track down someone? Of course I can!"

Spencer rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"So, what is this person's name then?" Gracia asked.

"Chloe Jenkins, she should be around 29 or 30 and she lives in Virginia." Spencer said remembering the age that Rachel casually dropped when he asked her on Sunday.

"Can I mess up her credit score or something?" Gracia asked with a puppy look.

It took all the willpower Spencer had to agree with Gracia. "Not yet, I'll tell you tomorrow what you can do. I need to speak to her first."

"Should I be concerned?" Gracia asked.

"No, it's nothing I can't handle," Spencer said.

Once he got the address, Spencer bid Gracia a farewell and left the office.

* * *

_**A few hours later.**_

Once Spencer had finished his work and probably some of Morgan's, he left the BAU and received a text from Rachel asking if he could pick up some groceries on his way back.

This was a perfect excuse for Spencer to be a bit late home. He checked the address and soon he pulled up in front of a cream house. He saw a car in the driveway and made his way up to the door. He rang the bell and waited. A woman with chestnut hair around 30 years old answered the door.

"How may I help you?" the woman asked.

"Is this the house of Chloe Jenkins?" Spencer asked trying to have some authority in his voice.

"Yes, and I am Chloe," the woman said. "May I ask who you are and what you are doing at my door. If not I'm going to call the cops."

"I am Dr Spencer Reid and I am an agent of the FBI. I would prefer if we spoke inside as I assume you wouldn't want your neighbours listening in." Spencer said calmly.

"Sure," and Chloe moved over making room from Spencer to walk in.

Once Spencer was inside, Chloe directed Spencer into the living room.

"What's this about and why is the FBI involved."

"Are you familiar with the name Rachel Collins?" Spencer asked.

Chloe jaw tightened. "Yes I am. What has she been saying?"

"Quite the opposite, she hasn't been saying much. However the wound on her torso and the bruises scattered across her stomach say something else."

Chloe's eyes widen slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about Dr Reid."

"I'm sure you do. Now, you should be grateful that Rachel had decided that she wasn't going press charges, however as a federal agent, I can report it without having her say anything. I've come here to warn you Ms Jenkins. If I find that you have been harassing Rachel or tell Rachel I was here, I will not hesitate to tell the police about you and you will be prosecuted." Spencer said evenly.

Chloe's breathing quickened significantly. "Are you threatening me Dr Reid?"

"No, I am just warning you Ms Jenkins. And I will stay true to my words. I understand that you are grieving, but you must remember that Rachel isn't to blame for the death of your fiancé. She tried everything in her power to save him. Not only that, Rachel has known Jackson for longer than you, and has lost someone that was a brother to her. If you can't understand that, you will never be able to move on with your life. In fact, that is the first stage of a person turning into a serial killer, and Ms Jenkins, I deal with them on a day to day basis. If I was you, I would move on. I think I've finished here," Spencer said while standing up.

Chloe nodded and led him to the door. "Before you go Dr Reid, how is Rachel? And where is she staying I want to give her flowers."

"You can give them to her workplace, I'm sure you know where that is." Spencer said. "And let's just be grateful that I found Rachel when I did. Otherwise, you would be looking a charge for murder. Have a good evening Ms Jenkins."

And with that Spencer left.


	8. Chapter 8

_**True friends are always together in spirit.- L.M. Montgomery.**_

* * *

**Warning: Mention of suicide.**

* * *

After meeting with Chloe, Spencer felt settled in himself. He didn't tell Rachel what he did and he had no plans in telling her either.

Two weeks after Rachel had told Spencer that she could move back into her apartment. Even after trying to convince Rachel that she still needed help, Rachel was adamant that she was well enough to look after herself. She said that with Spencer away on cases, she was looking after herself.

Spencer had to agree with Rachel. In the last few days. He had been away on cases and only got to speak to Rachel for a few minutes. Reluctantly, Spencer helped Rae move back into her apartment.

Even though they lived in two different apartments, Spencer soon found himself at Rae's apartment quite a bit.

When it was finally time for Rachel to go back to work, Spencer promised Rachel that he would take her to work.

In the early morning of the day that Rachel was going back to work, Spencer got a call from JJ.

Spencer answered with a groggy voice, "Hello?"

"Hi Spencer, I'm so sorry to wake you, but we have a case." JJ said.

Spencer groaned slowly. "Where is it?"

"New York."

"Okay I'll be there in 10 mintues."

"Okay bye."

"Bye."

As Spencer registered what JJ said, he groaned and remembered what he had promised to Rachel.

He rubbed his eyes and picked up his phone to call Rachel.

"Spens, do you know what time it is?" Rachel mumbled.

"Um… 3:00am?"

"Yes… So why are you calling so early in the morning?"

"I called to say that I won't be able to take you to work today. I have to go-"

"And go be a superhero and save someone's life?" Rachel cut him.

"Yeah something like that," Spencer said sadly. "I really wanted to take you work though."

"Don't worry, when you come back you can take me to work. Go catch a criminal and save some lives. Don't worry about me, I'll make my way to work." Rachel said.

"Are you sure Rae?"

"Yes Spencer, now go. Bye." and Rachel hung up.

Spencer chuckled and got ready for work.

Three hours later, Rachel woke up and started getting ready for work. She made a cup of coffee, and packed her bag and then she was out the door.

As she approached the hospital, she sighed. It was the first time since the death of Jackson. Rachel wasn't sure she was ready to go to the hospital and help people. But before she could turn her car around, Rachel got a text message.

_You're going to have a great day Rae! I'll talk to you later.- Spens x_

Rachel smiled and went inside.

When she entered the ER she walked up to the reception.

"Good morning Louise," Rachel said softly at the caramel woman behind the desk.

Louise looked up and when she saw Rachel she squealed.

"OMG! Rachel you're back! OMG I knew you were coming back this month, but I didn't know you were coming back today!" Louise squealed.

Rachel laughed. "Well I'm here and ready to work. Will you be a sweetheart and get Hannah for me please?"

Louise nodded and left.

Rachel stood staring into space.

"Is that my favourite Doctor?" a deep voice asked.

Rachel turned around and standing behind her was one of her favorite nurses, Caleb.

"OMG Caleb is that you?!" Rachel yelled.

"Yes! I haven't seen you in ages. What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure if you have forgotten, but I do work here." Rachel laughed.

"Of course you do! How could I forget you?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know how you could forget me to be honest. I'm one of the best doctors here," Rachel said.

"You are correct, you are one of the best doctors here Dr Collins, which is why I am so glad that you are here today." The clinical lead Hannah Philips said. "Seeing you have been off for so long, I will slowly ease you back into work. You will not work in resus unless it is absolutely necessary but instead you will be seeing the patience in the waiting rooms. At the end of the day, I will like you to report back to me."

"I understand Ms Philips." Rachel said nodding.

"I will also like if Nurse Jones can shadow you for the day." Hannah continued and Caleb nodded.

Within five minutes after Hannah had spoken to both Rachel and Caleb, Rachel was now in the mindset of Dr Collins and pushed out any pain out of her head. The first few patients were simple. One patient had a broken arm and she had to put a cast on. A child got a small bead stuck up her nose. Nothing that reminded her of her lost. As Rachel was waiting for the coffee machine, she soon felt someone behind her giving her a hug and Rachel knew who it was straight away.

"Is this my best friend?" Rachel asked.

"Depends. Am I still your best friend?" Rebecca asked.

"Of course you are," Rachel said and returned the hug.

As the two friends started catching up, Rachel's phone pinged.

_How is your day going Ray. I'm about to get on the plane, so I'll see you soon.- Spens_

"Who is Spens?" Rebecca asked as she looked over Rachel's shoulder reading the text.

"Um… Spencer is one of my close friends." Rachel said hesitantly.

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "Really? Are you sure? How come I never met him before?"

"Spencer is my friend, and I met him recently." Rachel said as her pager went off. "That's my break over."

Once Rachel finished her shift which wasn't that eventful, she reported to Hannah. She knocked on the door and took a deep breath.

"Come in."

Behind the door was Hannah's doing some paperwork.

"Rachel, thank you for coming. How was your first day back?"

"It wasn't that bad Hannah. Nothing that made me stress." Rachel said.

"I wanted you to come and speak to me because I know how badly the death of Jackson hit you. I wanted to let you know that I am here for you. Don't think that because I am the clinical lead, you can't speak to me about anything personal. I'm here. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Hannah questioned.

Rachel thought. She should tell Hannah that she was going to commit suicide, but at the same time she was too embarrassed to tell anyone apart from Spencer. And knowing Hannah, she would have arranged a therapy session for Rachel and that was the last thing Rachel wanted. After growing up as an orphan, she was constantly at the school counsellor. As a result, Rachel knows all the right answers to tell a shrink or a therapist and besides Spencer helped.

"No Hannah there is nothing I need to tell you. I'm fine. I am still grieving but I can still work, so please let me work." Rachel said.

Hannah nodded. "Okay Rachel. But never forget that I'm here for you."

"Thank you," Rachel whispered.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace. - Christine Brinkley**_

* * *

Rachel entered her apartment to find Spencer sleeping on her couch. The TV showed an old episode of Doctor Who.

Rachel smiled.

Spencer had his hand under the cushion that his head was resting on. His longish, soft brown locks covered his face and his glasses laid on the coffee table in front of him along with his gun and badge, his bag was placed at the end of the couch. Soft snores could be heard and Spencer's body shivered ever so often indicating that he was cold.

Rachel went into her guest room and found a blue soft cotton blanket that she kept for when friends stayed over at her house. After making sure that she was accidentally covering Spencer's face with the blanket and turning off the TV, Rachel took his bag and put it into the guest room figuring Spencer would be staying the night. Once she had done that, Rachel went into the kitchen to start making something for both of them to eat.

She began to make spaghetti bolognese, something she knew that both herself and Spencer loved to eat. Rachel put on some soft music, making sure it couldn't be heard from the living room. She began to think back over the last month and realised that she was extremely grateful for Spencer. Even though her life had some rough patches, Rachel was grateful that she was able to have the chance to help people again and today she was reminded again of why she was a doctor.

Her stomach growled and Rachel began to refocus on the food she was preparing.

Spencer soon woke up the delicious smell of cooked food. It was obvious that Rachel was home, because who else would be making the food? Going to the kitchen, Spencer found Rachel back turned, humming to a song. Spencer stood back and watched until Rachel finally noticed him.

"Oh! Good evening sleeping beauty." Rachel said cheekily.

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Good evening to you to Dr Collins."

"What is this? Are you my patient?" Rachel asked.

"No."

"Then there's no need to call me Doctor, Dr Reid," Rachel replied.

"Then there's no need to call me Dr Reid."

"Touche."

There was a comfortable silence as Rachel carried on making dinner, and Spencer watched. Neither one of them wanted to break the silence as they were both happy just taking in the silence. After a few moments, Rachel realised that Spencer was still in the clothes that she presumed he had come off the plane with.

"Dinner will be ready in the next fifteen minutes if you want to go and have a shower and freshen up." Rachel said without looking up.

"Are you saying that I smell," Spencer asked.

"No, but I figured that you would be more comfortable in clothes that you haven't slept in and come off a plane in." Rachel answered calmly.

"Well I'll see you in ten minutes." Spencer said and walked towards the bathroom.

"There should be a spear towel on the radiator and your bag is in the guest room!" Rachel yelled after him.

"Thanks!" Spencer called back.

After ten minutes Spencer returned wearing casual clothes, a look that Rachel had become accustomed to seeing. He went over to Rachel to help her sever up, only to be told to sit down. Once he had taken his seat, Rachel handed him his plate of food.

"Would you like some cheese on the spaghetti? And what drink would you like?" Rachel asked

"Yes please I would like some cheese please and also I'll have water but I can get that. Sit down and eat before your food gets cold." Spencer said.

"It's fine Spencer, I'm going to get a drink as well so it's not a problem. But if it really bothers you, how about you do the dishes once we finished hm?" Rachel compromised.

When she had got herself and Spencer their glasses of water, Rachel sat opposite Spencer.

"Hey Rachel, did you know that the pasta originally used wasn't spaghetti but tagliatelle?" Spencer said as he ate his food.

"No I didn't, but I'll remember that for next time I make it again."

"And did you know that there are two kinds of meat. The original recipe had you mix minced beef and pork together. You can only obtain the authentic taste of ragú with these meats." Spencer carried on.

"That I did know." Rachel said as she drank some of her water. "My boss is Italian and she made sure that she pointed that out to me when she first made it for me."

Spencer listened and then remembered that it was Rachel's first day back at work.

"How was your first day back at work Rae?"

Rachel stopped eating and looked afar. "It was okay. I remembered why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place. I wasn't given any difficult patients, mainly those with broken bones. It was refreshing to see my friends and co-workers again. Which reminds me, we need to come up with some sort of back story."

Spencer looked confused. "Why is that?"

"I have this nosy friend, Rebecca, who I'm sure you will meet soon, and she's going to want to know how we met. She already knows about you by the way." Rachel said as she carried on eating.

"Wait what? How?"

"So basically, when I was on my lunch break, she was with me. And she saw the text that you sent telling me that you were coming back. To cut a long story short, she wanted to know how we met. I told her that we met at a coffee or something along those lines. But we need to have a solid story. I don't want anyone finding out the real reason why we met." Rachel said looking down slightly.

"That's understandable. We can keep to the coffee story but tweak it a bit. Instead we can say that I wasn't paying attention and spilt coffee on you, because that probably would have happened. I'm extremely clumsy." Spencer said.

Rachel laughed.

"If the truth be known, Spens, I'm just as clumsy as you are. That story could go anyway."

"True. You are clumsy. It's surprising you don't need to go to the ER." Spencer laughed.

"Hey! Don't make fun of me!" Rachel laughed heartily. "Anyways, how was the case?"

Spencer stopped laughing and looked down at his food. "You don't want to know about the case."

"Yes I do Spencer. You asked me how my day went, so I'm asking you how your day went and I know that means telling me about the case."

Spencer sighed.

"I would prefer if we didn't talk about my case if you don't mind Rae. It's just that it's so fresh in my mind that I don't really want to think about it. I hope you get what I'm trying to say." Spencer said.

"It's okay Spens. When there has been a patient with a difficult illness that we might not be able to treat, I don't really fancy talking about it. I just want to forget it. I know that doesn't quite equal what you're going through, but I do understand slightly." Rachel explained.

Spencer smiled. "Thank you Rachel. That reminds me I have a gift for you. Stay there."

"Ummm… Okay?" Rachel said, confused.

When Spencer returned, he had a small package covered in wrapping paper. He handed it to Rachel timidly.

Rachel took the package with confusion written all over her face. "I didn't know we were exchanging gifts. I'm afraid I don't have a gift for you Spens. You should have told me that we were going to be giving presents to each other and I would have got something for you."

Spencer chuckled. "The present is a gift to um… Welcome you back to work. And to kinda say sorry for not being able to take you to work today when I promised I would."

"Spencer, it's okay that you couldn't take me today. It's not your fault that some psychopath decided they wanted to do something causing you to leave. You didn't need to get me a present." Rachel said with a small smile.

She found adorable how Spencer wanted to say sorry for something that couldn't be avoidable.

"I don't like breaking promises. So I had to make it up to you somehow. Anyways, open the present!"

"Fine." And Rachel carefully ripped the wrapping paper.

When the wrapping paper was gone a small box was left. She opened the box and inside was a love heart necklace with her birth stones around the edge. In the middle of the heart was a quote. It said "Saving lives, one day at a time, just like always."

It was truly beautiful.

Rachel was shocked that she almost forgot how to speak. After a few seconds she remembered how to move her lips.

"Spencer, this is beautiful. I can't take it though. It must have cost a fortune. You didn't need to spend so much on something to say sorry for today." Rachel began.

Before Rachel could finish, Spencer cut her. "My friend made it for me. And it didn't cost me much at all. Take it, because I'm not taking it back."

"Well if you insist. I love it Spencer. Thank you so much." Rachel said as she got up and hugged Spencer.

Spencer blushed not really expecting to get a hug, however he did return the hug. He hoped that Rachel wouldn't see the blush and if she did Rachel didn't say anything.

"I have some ice cream and jello, want some? We can watch some Star Trek." Rachel said with a smile.

"Sure. What flavor of jello do you have?"

"Whatever the red flavor is. I know that's your favourite." Rachel said.

"So let me get this straight, I'm going to have jello and you're going to have ice cream?" Spencer asked.

"Yep!"

"Sounds like a plan then."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: I know in chapter 1 I said that Spencer was 28 and Rachel was 27 but I decided to change their ages to be a little bit younger. Spencer will be 25 and Rachel will be 24. This is to allow this book to slightly follow the original storyline of Criminal Minds. As a result, everything concerning Maeve happened when Gideon was there. Another point is that Emily probably will be in the story much earlier than she is in the show. This means that Alex, Ashley, Jordan and Kate will not be mentioned. This is because I don't really feel comfortable writing about them as I haven't really watched the episodes with them in it. If the storyline is a bit messy now, hopefully in the upcoming chapters the storyline will become slightly clearer.**

* * *

_**When I look into the eyes of an animal, I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul. - A.D Williams**_

* * *

It had been three months since Rachel had started going back to work. In those three months, Rachel had been placed in the pediatric ward. On that ward, Rachel felt more comfortable in herself. There was nothing to remind her of Jackson but instead she worked hard to save children's lives.

She enjoyed working with children.

There were more good days than bad days in the pediatric ward and more chances of survival than in the ER. Even though Rachel did miss working in the ER, Rachel was reunited with Rebecca who was a consultant in the pediatric ward.

Within the three months, Spencer and Rachel fell into a routine. When Spencer wasn't on a case and when Rachel wasn't working a night shift on the ward, the two of them would either go to the movies or watch something on the TV. Spencer looked forward to the end of the day and soon began to leave earlier than he normally would. It was safe to say that Spencer was much happier now and this didn't go unnoticed by his coworkers.

One day Spencer finished his work and had his head in a book. Morgan, JJ and Emily desperately wanted a distraction from the paperwork that they had been doing for the last three hours. JJ went to get Gracia and the four of them crowded around Spencer's desk. Spencer didn't take any notice of his coworkers or that his bosses were watching from higher up, but carried on reading his book.

"Hey Pretty Boy, what're you reading?" Morgan asked.

"I'm rereading 'The Narrative Of John Smith'. Even though I've read it many times, I still enjoy the book greatly." Spencer said head still in his book.

"Uh? Yeah…" Morgan said, slightly confused.

"Anyways Spense, we've noticed that you have been leaving work on time or sometimes even earlier." JJ said.

"Yeah. You don't stay behind after a case to finish your paperwork, instead you go straight home." Emily added.

"So… The question begs. What is making Dr Reid want to go home so quickly?" Gracia asked.

Spencer stopped reading but kept his head down. He didn't actually think that his coworkers would have noticed that he was leaving earlier, which was stupid seeing he works with profilers.

Keeping a poker face, Spencer said the first thing came to his mind. "I've recently got a puppy and I want to spend as much time as I can with him. He's a Jack Russell."

The shock on each of his coworkers' faces was extremely funny for Spencer to see.

"What about the Reid effect? And don't dogs have bacteria that you hate?" Morgan questioned.

"Apparently the puppy isn't affected by the "Reid Effect" or maybe it's not a thing. After all you made that up Morgan. And even though the dog might be dirty, I wanted an animal companion. " Spencer said, trying hard to keep a straight face. If his team found out that the puppy thing was a lie, then they would definitely grill him till he told them the truth.

"What's its' name then?" Emily said.

"Jet. I called him Jet, because of his fur. I figured that Jet was a better name than Black. The name also emphasises his speed." Spencer said.

"Awe!" The ladies gushed.

"That explains why you want to leave so quickly." Gracia said, clapping her hands.

"I look forward to seeing this puppy," Morgan said. "Maybe we can get Jet and Clooney to become friends."

"Yeah sure," Spencer said, making a mental note to speak to Rachel. God she was going to laugh when she heard about his story.

"Well, we best leave Spencer and finish our work so we can go back to our animals and humans." JJ said as she ruffled Spencer's hair and left to go back to her office.

"Yeah, JJ's right. I want to leave early. See ya." Gracia said and went off back to her cave.

Morgan and Emily left Spencer and went back to their paperwork.

Spencer went back to his book but he couldn't focus. He couldn't believe the depth of the lie he had just told.

He sighed. He really needed to get a puppy now.

Later that day, Spencer went to Rachel's apartment, but on his way he stopped off to get Chinese, Rachel's favourite ice cream, her favourite drink and her favourite bar of chocolate.

When he arrived at the apartment, he rang the bell and prayed that his plan went to plan. Rachel opened the door wearing casual clothes with her hair wet.

"Hey Spencer," Rachel said while allowing him through the door. "Is that Chinese takeaway in that bag?"

"Yeah."

"Omg, you are a lifesaver Spens. You're a literal lifesaver. I was going to starve." Rachel said dramatically.

"Why, what happened?"

"I may or may not have burnt some food in the oven…"

Spencer looked at Rachel with a blank expression.

"How on earth did the famous Chef Collins burn her food?" Spencer laughed.

"Well it's kind of a funny story. When I came back from work I instantly put the food in the oven. But then I decided that I needed to wash my hair. I took too long to wash my lovely locks. The minute I came out of the shower, I smelt something burning. Low and behold my food in the oven was burnt to a crisp. I'm surprised that the fire department wasn't needed." Rachel said while Spencer gave a chuckle.

"Well I come bearing food, your favourite ice cream, drink and chocolate." Spencer handing Rachel the bag.

"Omg! Thank you Spens! You make my day that much better."

Spencer laughed again at how dramatic Rachel was being.

When Rachel came back from the kitchen with some plates and glasses, she sat down on her couch and began serving the food.

With Rachel slightly distracted, Spencer thought it was the perfect time to put his plan into action.

"Rae, I had the conversation with my coworkers today and I need your help."

"If you're going to ask me to help you kill someone and help hide the body, I'll have to tell you that I don't have a lot of physical strength so you're looking at the wrong person." Rachel cut him.

"Wait what? No, I don't need you to help me with that. Why did you think of that? Anyways, I want you to listen and not interrupt me. Got it?"

"I guess."

"Okay so my coworkers cornered me today. They asked me why I was leaving work so early, and I didn't really want them to know about you. And it's not because I don't trust you or anything, it's just that they can be a bit over protective over me. And one of them, Gracia, knows how to hack into things and find information that you didn't even know existed. I don't want them to know about your past prematurely.

Either way, when I was questioned, I told them that I had a puppy. A Jack Russell terrier to be precise. Now I have got my team to believe that I have a puppy and they want to meet him. Problem is I don't have a puppy. So I'm asking you that this Saturday, we go to the pet store and get a puppy.

However, there is another problem. With my job, I don't know when I'll be able to take care of this dog. I was wondering if you could-" Spencer said before he was cut by Rachel.

"I'll look after him permanently or temporarily, whichever you want. I don't mind having an animal companion to play with or to be around." Rachel said while munching on some noodles.

"Really?" Spencer asked, not quite believing that it was going to be that easy to convince Rachel to help him.

"Yes Spens. I've always wanted a dog, but never got one for some reason. Plus you brought me all the things I love so, I mean I kinda have to help you."

"Thanks Rae. Now you're the lifesaver."

"Shush! The movie is going to start."

Saturday came and Rachel was waiting for Spencer. They both decided that it would be easier if they went in Rachel's car. Her car was bigger and it would be easier to fit all the dog stuff and the actual puppy in the trunk and the backseat of Rachel's car than Spencer's.

They went to the Walmart and got all the stuff that a new puppy needed. It was much easier than Rachel expected, especially a walking, talking dog manual. Spencer took it upon himself to research everything there was to know about Jack Russell puppies to help make the process quick.

After Rachel's car was loaded with new toys, food for the puppy, a litter tray and a new bed for the puppy, Spencer and Rachel went to the pet store to get the puppy.

When they entered, Rachel turned into a child, squealing when she saw all the different dogs.

All Spencer could do was chuckle at how childish Rachel was behaviouring.

The assistant walked over to them. "Good afternoon. Do you know what pet you are looking for?"

"Yes. We would like a Jack Russell puppy please." Rachel said excitement was written all over her face.

"You're in luck. We have quite a few of Jack Russell puppies here. Do you know what color fur you would like the dog to have?"

"Umm…" Rachel stuttered.

"Black please." Spencer said.

"Come this way then please," the assistant said.

Rachel turned to Spencer questioning his choice of color.

"I told my teammates that he had black fur," Spencer explained.

"Right."

As they walked behind the assistant, they saw all different kinds of dogs.

"I really want to get all of these dogs Spens." Rachel whined.

"If you bought all of these dogs Rae, there wouldn't be any room in your apartment for yourself. At least you're able to get one of these cute puppies." Spencer said with a small smile.

The assistant showed them all the black Jack Russels puppies that they had. There were about seven different puppies. Each puppy was doing their own little thing. Some of the puppies were playing with each other. When the puppies saw Spencer and Rachel, they went up to the glass and started barking. They started jumping on each other trying to get a better look on the new visitors.

The assistant then opened the gate allowing the puppies to run and get a closer look at the buyers. The puppies began to bark again but soon their attention was turned when they saw all the different toys laying around the pen. They ran to the toys, every single pup apart from one.

He was covered in black fur but had a small white stripe going down his chest. He didn't go and play with the toys like the other puppies did. Instead he stayed by the glass, head croaked to one side looking at Spencer with curiosity.

Rachel picked him up and began to stoke his head. The puppy hummed with content and snuggled into Rachel's arm as if he was going to sleep.

"Aww. Spencer I think we should get this one." Rachel whispered, afraid to speak normally.

"I couldn't agree more." Spencer smiled. "Excuse me, we would like to take this puppy please."

"Okay. Do you know what you would like to name him? We can engrave the name into his collar and along with his address and number of the owner for free." The assistant explained.

"Oh yes please, the name will be Jet," Spencer said.

"Huh? Jet?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah I told them that his name was Jet because of his fur and the speed at which he can run at," Spencer explained. "If you add more detail to the lie, it is more believable."

"If you say so Spens."

Rachel was too engrossed in petting the dog that she allowed Spencer to deal with minor information. However, when the assistant said that she needed the owner to sign the paper, Rachel gave Jet to Spencer. Spencer at first was scared that Jet might suffer from the "Reid Effect" but thankfully Jet had no problem with him.

When it was time to pay, Spencer produced his credit card and paid for Jet leaving no room for argument. Spencer has told Rachel in the car that seeing that she was doing him a favour, he would be paying for the puppy and Rachel should not even think about using her card.

With a purple collar around Jet's neck, Rachel and Spencer left the pet store.

"Spens, I feel bad that you bought Jet. Please let me get you a book from the bookstore across the road." Pleaded Rachel.

Spencer sighed. "Fine, but don't be mad if the book is cheap. I don't want you spending money on me."

When they reached the bookstore, they browsed around looking for the book that Spencer would want. Spencer went to the science fiction section and looked around. Rachel went to the romantic section just for the fun of it.

After a few minutes, she became bored and went to find Spencer. Rachel wasn't paying attention to where she was going and she soon realised that she was lost. Quickly finding her bearings,she soon found Spencer. She saw a man standing near Spencer but took no notice of him and carried on walking towards Spencer.

"Spens, have you found the book that you want? I think Jet is hungry and when I mean Jet, I mean me." Rachel said when she finally reached Spencer.

Both Spencer and the man standing near him turned around and looked at Rachel. The other man was quite older than Spencer but by the way they were standing, Spencer knew him. The older looking man was staring at her as if he was profiling her. This made Rachel feel uncomfortable.

"Er… Hey Rae, I see you found me." Spencer stuttered. "I've got the book that I want."

The older man raised his eyebrow at Spencer.

"Oh Gideon this is Dr Rachel Collins and Rae this is Gideon one of my bosses."


	11. Chapter 11

_**The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more in life there is to celebrate.- Oprah Winfrey**_

* * *

Rachel stood awkwardly as she stared from Spencer to Gideon. Her mind was trying to think of a plan and she subconsciously stroked Jet's back. She knew that Spencer didn't want her to meet his team yet, so she was at a loss at what to do. Realizing that she looked like an idiot that was just standing there, Rachel decided to greet Gideon, but Gideon beat her to it.

"Hello, Dr Collins. It's a pleasure to meet you." Gideon said.

"Oh, please call me Rachel. Only my patients call me that." Rachel said with a slight smile.

"Patients?" Gideon asked.

"Rachel is a close friend of mine and a consultant at the main hospital in Quantico. She used to work in the ER but has recently been moved to consult on the paediatric ward." Spencer rambled on.

Gideon gave a small smile and looked at the puppy Rachel was holding. "Who's this cute furry animal then?"

"This is Jet. He's a Jack Russell. We just bought him today." Rachel said smiling at the young puppy in her arms. She was unaware of the fear that was written all over Spencer's face.

Spencer was worried. If Gideon somehow slipped that Jet was bought after Spencer's conversation with his team, he was totally screwed.

"Well he's very cute," Gideon said. "And by the looks of it he is a well behavioured puppy as well."

Rachel smiled and looked down at the puppy who was looking back up at her. Jet released a yawn and snuggled into Rachel's arm.

"I'll let you two go now." said Gideon as he noticed Jet falling asleep in Rachel's arms. "I'll see you on Monday Spencer; that is if we don't get a case beforehand. Goodbye Rachel, it's a pleasure to have met you. I'm glad Spencer has someone to spend time that isn't work related."

Spencer blushed while Rachel gave a quiet chuckle.

"Goodbye Gideon. I hope I see you again soon." Rachel said.

"I'm sure you will. And by the way, call me Jason. Gideon is usually used when I am working and seeing we are not in a work environment, Jason will fit better."

Rachel nodded.

"Bye Gideon," Spencer said. "I'll see you on Monday."

Gideon nodded and walked away with a smile on his face. He was pleased that Spencer had a friend outside of work. Just like some of his coworkers, Gideon was beginning to believe that Spencer didn't have any friends outside of work. However, Gideon wanted to know how Rachel and Spencer met because he had no memory of Spencer mentioning Rachel before. He wondered how long the two had been friends given the situation that Spencer faced over a year ago. He looked at the two friends and shook his head as he watched them argue on who was going to pay for the books Spencer had in his arms. Eventually Rachel won and Spencer was left to sulk and hold Jet. Soon after the friends left the book shop.

It had been two weeks since Spencer and Rachel had bought Jet and had bumped into Gideon at the bookstore. Thankfully, Gideon made no mention of Rachel the next time he saw Spencer.

After Spencer bought Jet, he made Rachel take a picture of him and the pup together so he could keep it on his desk. When his teammates saw the picture,they never again made mention him leaving early.

It was the weekend before Spencer's birthday and Rachel was excited. It was the first time she was going to be celebrating Spencer's birthday and she wanted to make it special. Rachel was glad that Spencer had a case and was in another state, as this meant that Rachel could get on with her plan without being interrupted.

Rachel went to the shopping centre and went straight to the bookstore. There, she brought five books that she knew Spencer would love to read. She made sure that the book had at least 800 pages and made sure it was thick looking. The last thing she wanted was for Spencer to finish all the books in one sitting. Next Rachel went to a stationary shop, where she bought a letter set for she had noticed how much Spencer wrote letters. She never asked who the letters were for but she thought that it would be nice Spencer had a professional writing set. She then went to the clothes store and bought a jumper. The previous week Spencer had seen the jumper but wasn't sure if it suited him and didn't buy the jumper.

When Rachel had paid for the jumper, she made her way to the supermarket to pick up some food and ingredients for a birthday cake. With everything that she had bought, Rachel was sure she would be ready for when Monday.

Monday finally came and Spencer had reached the office. He had received a very funny phone call from Rachel that morning, who was struggling to speak as Jet kept barking whenever Rachel spoke. Spencer made his way to his desk and started to do some work. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't hear his colleagues approaching his desk. It was only when they began to sing "Happy Birthday" that Spencer looked up.

JJ was holding a cake with lit candles and Garcia was holding a ridiculous looking hat.

"Blow the candles out Spence,"JJ said with a smile on her face as Gracia put the hat on Spencer's head.

Spencer tried to blow the candles out but they wouldn't blow out.

Morgan began to laugh. "Come on Pretty Boy, put some effort into it."

And Spencer blows harder.

The team laughed and Spencer's effort and JJ soon decided it was time to help Spencer out before he passed out.

"Spence, they're trick candles. No matter how much you blow, they won't blow out." JJ said with a laugh.

"Aww, Mama to the rescue." Morgan laughed. "Come on cut the cake. I want a slice."

"The first slice goes to the birthday boy," Gracia said and slapped Morgan's hand as he tried to take the first slice.

Spencer took the slice and took a bit and it was only then did he see that Gracia was holding a camera. It was typical Gracia behaviour to be holding a camera at these sort of celebrations. As the rest of the team crowded around the cake, Spencer slipped out and went to where Gideon was watching. Hotch had been standing there a few minutes before but he had disappeared when his phone began to ring.

"Having fun?" Gideon asked.

"Yes definitely." Spencer said, slightly confused. "I'm definitely having fun."

"Make a wish?" Gideon asked while looking at the hat.

"Can I take this hat off?"

"I wouldn't."

Spencer's phone binged announcing that he had a text message. It was from Rachel.

_Hey Spency, sorry about earlier. Looks like Jet was a little hype today after his run. I hope you have a great day. Swing by me later after work. Rae x_

Spencer noticed Gideon looking at the text from Rachel.

"You know she's the only person in the world who calls me Spency." Spencer said with a smile on his face.

Gideon smiled. Spencer was healing.

"I'm sorry cut the party, but we have a case." Hotch announced and the fun spirit was soon forgotten and the mood tuned to a sober one.

Just before going to sit by the round table, Spencer sent a quick telling Rachel that he had a case. While he was on the plane, he received a text from Rachel telling him to stay safe.

It had taken the team a few days to solve the case but at least they were on their way home. Spencer sat in front of a chess board deep in thought as he played against Gideon.

"Forgot to give this to you at the party," Gideon said as he handed over a boxed wrapped in blue paper."

"Oh yeah? But you don't give birthday presents." Spencer said taking the box and unwrapping it.

Spencer struggled to open the present and Gideon smiled. When he finally opened the box, Spencer looked up at Gideon completely confused.

"Wow, the Red Skins."

"It's a VIP box," Gideon said, still smiling.

"Thank you so much," Spencer said, still slightly confused.

"Ever been to a pro football game?" Gideon asked.

"No, I honestly didn't even know this was football." Spencer chuckled slightly.

"You're gonna love it," Gideon said with a big smile.

"We are. You're coming with me." Spence said while holding the tickets.

"No." Gideon said. "Someone else you know is a huge skins fan."

"Who?" Spencer said now utterly confused.

"The only person in the world that calls you Spency." Gideon said.

"Rae… Rachel?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, she's a huge Red Skins fan." Gideon explained.

Spencer looked at Gideon then back at the tickets.

"What should I say?" Spencer asked as he pulled out his phone.

Gideon just looked at him.

"Right… I have to figure that part out for myself." Spencer said and Gideon just picked up his newspaper.

Spencer sent a text to Rachel saying that he was in the plane on his way back. She soon replies saying that she will be in her apartment.

After three hours, Spencer pulled into Rachel's car park. He rang the doorbell and waited for Rachel to answer the door. Spencer heard Jet barks as the puppy came closer to the door and he heard Rachel trying to get to the door. Once the door was opened, Rachel hugged Spencer.

Spencer froze for a few seconds then hugged Rachel back.

"I've got something for you," Rachel said as she let go of Spencer.

"Really?" Spencer asked.

"Yep!" Rachel said as they walked into her living room. "It's a surprise so you have to close your eyes."

"Do I have to close my eyes?"

"Yep! And if you peek, Jet will tell me. Won't you boy?" Rachel asked as Jet barked in response.

Spencer laughed. It was nice to have a laugh with someone rather than going back to his apartment.

"Okay my eyes are closed Rae." Spencer said as he sat down on the sofa.

He heard Rachel enter the living room and then leave the room again. She went to her room and then the kitchen.

After hearing a tray being placed on the table, Rachel announced that he could finally open his eyes.

Spencer opened his eyes and saw four presents set in front of him on the table. Next to them was a tray of cupcakes that spelt "Happy Birthday".

"I couldn't find any candles," Rachel said with a slight frown.

"It's perfect without the candles." Spencer said with a smile as he looked up at her. "But why one earth are there 4 presents?"

"What? I can't give more than one present to someone?" Rachel counted. "Open the presents. Pleaseee"

Spencer rolled his eyes but opened the presents.

Inside them he found a stack of books that he had wanted to read for a while, a writing set and the jumper that he wanted to buy.

"How did you know my size?" Spencer asked.

"The last time I was at your apartment I saw one of them lying on the floor. I simply checked the size of that jumper." Rachel said with a shrug.

"Thank you Rachel, I love them." Spencer said with a smile. "That reminds me, I have a present for you."

"Hm? For me? It's not my birthday?"

"I know, but it's a present that I want to share with you." Spencer said as he pulled out the Red Skins tickets.

Rachel gasped.

"How did you know that I love the Red Skins?" Rachel asked as she looked at the tickets then back at Spencer.

"Um… I didn't know who the Red Skins were until a few hours ago." Spencer said. "It was Gideon who knew."

"How did he know that?" Rachel asked in amazement.

"He probably profiled you when you met him. That or you was giving Red Skin energy." Spencer asked. "The tickets are VIP as well."

"VIP!?" Rachel gasped. "You have VIP tickets?!"

"Yep!" Spencer said with slight pride. "So will you come with me?"

"Of course I will go Spency." Rachel said. "But I feel like it's more of a present for me than for you."

"Oh no. I've never been to a football game. So it will be a new experience for me. Think of it as another birthday present."

"Fine Spency. Happy birthday."


	12. Chapter 12

Adversity is the first path to truth. -Lord Byron.

* * *

Monday came around and Spencer had enjoyed his weekend. His ears were still slightly ringing from the loud noise that the crowd from the game had created. However, Spencer didn't mind. Seeing Rachel scream at different players when they didn't make a move that she wanted, put a stupid smile on his face.

Spencer liked all of his gifts that he had received but Rachel's gifts stuck out to him. She put some much thought into the gifts and it had paid off. Spencer was wearing his new jumper with some added confidence knowing that someone else had enjoyed his taste in clothing.

"Hey Pretty Boy. Who're you trying to impress?" Morgan asked when he saw Spencer.

"Hm? No one." Spencer frowned.

"Okay… If you say so." Morgan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah Spence, that jumper really suits you. It's really nice." Emily commented.

"Thanks I guess…" Spencer didn't really know how to take that compliment but he nodded all the same. He made a mental note to thank Rachel later.

The three agents settled down and began to do some paperwork. It was around 11 o'clock that Spencer received a text from Rachel.

_Hey Spency, I have a long shift today. If you don't get a case, could you please look after Jet. He's still young so I don't want to leave him alone yet. If you can't, could you please give him to my next door neighbour, no.21 she'll be able to look after him for tonight. Thanks Rae x_

**If I don't get a case, I'll be able to take Jet with me. Remember to look after yourself Rae. I'll call you around 5 o'clock to confirm. Spencer.**

When Rachel received the text from Spencer, she smiled and placed her phone in her pocket.

"Who's got you smiling Missy?" Rachel's best friend Rebecca asked.

"Nobody…" Rachel replied with a small smile on her face.

"Why are you lying to me? Did anyone ever tell you it's bad to lie?" Rebecca whined dramatically.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fine. Remember the other week I told you I had a puppy? Well seeing I'm going to be doing a long shift, I was asking Spencer if he could look after him."

"And what did he say?"

"He said as long as he doesn't get a case, he'll be able to look after Jet."

"What's Spencer's job again?"

"He's a profiler for the FBI. Why?" Rachel asked as she made herself a coffee.

"Just wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to kidnap you."

Rachel rolled her eyes again. "Seriously? Rebecca, do you really think I would make friends with someone that might have the possibility of kidnapping me?"

"I don't know Rae. People are weird. Just ask your FBI friend. I'm sure he'll tell you." Rebecca said.

"Whatever Rebecca. Anyways, I'm due in surgery in the next half an hour so I'm going to go and prep."

"Okay see you later." Rebecca said going her separate way.

After reaching the children ward, Rachel took a deep breath and went over to a young couple who were hovering over their daughter's bed.

"Mr and Mrs Wilson, it's time to prepare Maxine for her surgery." Rachel said in a calm, soft voice.

Mr Wilson looked up with tears in his and nodded and pulled his wife away from his daughter's bed. Mrs Wilson sobbed and gripped onto her husband.

"Please bring my baby back," Mrs Wilson begged.

Rachel nodded as she swallowed her emotions down. She couldn't promise something she knew she might night be able to keep. Maxine needed a heart transplant and Rachel knew how risky it was.

As the Wilson left, a nurse came in and nodded at Rachel, and Rachel left. Before surgery, Rachel would always go through all the steps in her mind as she prepared for surgery. Today however would be the first surgery she would be doing since she came back to work.

Within herself, Rachel would have preferred an easier surgery to perform, however she was the only surgeon there could do the surgery without superior vision.

Just before Rachel suited up, she took the necklace that Spencer had given to her and ran her fingers over the writing. Inside, there was a picture of herself at her graduation. Standing next to her was Jackson with a big smile on his face.

Rachel smiled. She remembered how proud Jackson was when she graduated and the way he cheered when her name was called. Rachel just prayed that Jackson was somewhere watching over her with that same proud smile on her face.

"Dr Collins, are you ready for surgery?" one of the junior nursers asked.

"Yes, I'm ready." was Rachel's reply.

Four hours later, Rachel was putting in the last stitch into little Maxine's chest. Throughout the surgery, there weren't any difficulties. When the last stitch was finished, Rachel left the theatre and allowed the nurses to finish cleaning up Maxine.

Half an hour later, Maxine was being set up in the recovery room. Rachel went to inform the parents on how the surgery went and explained the next process. Feeling that the Wilson needed some private time with their daughter, Rachel left the room and went to the nursing station.

She rubbed her forehead, thanking the medical gods that Maxine's surgery was a success. The last thing Rachel needed was for someone to die while she was operating on them.

"Rae? You okay?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah. Just came out of a four hour surgery. It was intense." Rachel said lifting her head towards Caleb.

"You got the long shift then?" Caleb said.

"Yeah, something like that." Rachel said.

"Well I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but here is another patient that you need to see." Caleb said while handing Rachel a file.

Rachel sighed and opened the file and read through it. "Where is this patient currently waiting?"

"He's going to be brought up from the ER." Caleb said.

"Okay when he gets here can you put him in room 312 please." Rachel said as she made her way to her office.

As she sat at her desk, she looked more deeply into the file. It was a boy called Jacob Evans, aged nine and he was brought in due to him falling off the climbing frame at school. Even though the case looked pretty much straight forward, something was off. Rachel couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew this case wasn't going to be easy.

Ten minutes later, Caleb had come in to tell her that Jacob had been brought up. When Rachel and Caleb opened the door,they found themselves staring at a small boy. Jacob didn't look like he was nine, he looked more like he was six.

Jacob heard the door open and looked up and met Rachel's kind eyes. He looked down and stared at the bed sheets.

Rachel and Caleb shared a look and Rachel began to frown.

"Hey there, I'm Dr Collins, but you can call me Rae." Rachel said in a soft voice. "What's your name?"

"My name is Jacob." the boy said quietly.

"Well, hello Jacob. How old are you? I'm 24." Rachel walked slowly towards Jacob. She knew all of the information, but she wanted to start a conversation and seeing how nervous Jacob was, she thought it was best to start with the basics.

"I'm nine years old, but my cousin said that I don't look nine. She calls me a baby sometimes." Jacob said slowly looking at Rachel, however he didn't meet Rachel's gaze.

"You're not a baby, from what I've heard, you've been really brave." Rachel said.

Hearing this, Jacob looked up at Rachel and finally made eye contact with her. He gave her a small smile.

"Really? I've been really brave?"

Rachel sat down next to the bed holding eye contact with Jacob. "Yeah. Falling off a climbing frame can be really scary but you were really brave. How about you continue being brave and let me have a quick check up on you? While I do the check up, how about you tell me about how you fell off?"

Jacob gave a small nod causing Rachel to smile. As she was preparing some equipment to do the check up, the door opened and a flustered woman hurried in.

Caleb looked confused and Rachel raised an eyebrow. Jacob's eyes however, widened slightly.

Something that didn't go unnoticed by both Rachel and Caleb.

"Ma'am, may I ask who you are?" Rachel asked the newcomer.

"Sorry, I'm Isabella Lopez. I'm the babysitter for The Evan family. I was there when little Jacob fell off the climbing frame. I was on the phone to his parents when he was brought up here. If you need any details on how he fell, I'm the person to ask" Isabella smiled while slowly stroking Jacob's head.

"Right… Well, I was just going to do a check up on Jacob, while he told me what he did last weekend. Isn't that right Jacob?" Rachel said slowly.

"Yes.." Jacob mumbled.

Caleb looked from Rachel to Jacob and wondered what Rachel was planning. Rachel gave a small smile and carried on preparing the things she needed.

"Well last weekend he went to a football game." Isabella filled in for Jacob.

"Is that right Jacob?" Rachel asked directing the question to Jacob.

"Yeah…" was all that came from Jacob.

Rachel sighed. She wasn't going to get Jacob talking with Isabella sitting next to him watching the boy's every move.

The rest of the check up was done in silence and Isabella watched Rachel's every move. Once Rachel was finished, she stood up and looked at the file again then turned to Jacob.

"It says that you hit your head when you fell, did you hit anything else?" Rachel asked.

"No, he only hit his head." Isabella said. "I watched him and told the EMT when they came. Is it not in that file?"

Isabella was starting to test Rachel's patience and despite wanting to yell at the annoying woman, Rachel took a deep breath.

"It does, I just needed to be sure." Rachel said. "Jacob, apart from your head, is there anywhere else that hurts. Even if it wasn't hit when you fell, I need to know."

"My left wrist hurts…" Jacob whispered.

Isabella's eyes widened. "How come you never said anything before?"

"It's only when Rae asked I remembered that it hurt." Jacob whispered with tears in his eyes which he quickly battered away.

"It's okay Jacob. We'll just scan that arm to make sure nothing is broken." Rachel said with a small smile. "As well as scanning Jacob's left hand, I'm going to scan his head just to make sure everything is okay. A nurse will be with you shortly to do them." Rachel said, turning to Isabella.

Isabella nodded.

"See you soon Jacob." Rachel said as she and Caleb left.


	13. Chapter 13

_**If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, walk, if you can't walk crawl. But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.- Martin Luther King Jr.**_

* * *

Once Rachel and Caleb were out the door, Caleb let out a sigh. Rachel stared at him.

"Was it just me, or did Isabella seem overprotective over Jacob?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. She seemed to be helpful giving information that we didn't even ask for." Caleb said. "That reminds me, before Isabella made her entrance, you asked Jacob to tell you what happened when he fell. But when Isabella was there you changed your mind. What's that about?"

"Did you notice how Jacob became when Isabella came into the room? He went all quiet and refused to look at us. It's as if he wanted to tell us something but he's too scared." Rachel said. "I'm also booking him for a full body scan, just to make sure everything's okay. Make sure Isabella doesn't know, the last thing we need is for her to become suspicious of us."

"Sure thing. I'll handle the scans myself if that gives you any peace of mind." Caleb said. "Where're you off too?"

"I'm going to see Hannah. Maybe she can help me get to the bottom of this." Rachel said as she walked away from the nursing office.

Walking to Hannah's office, Rachel played everything in her mind. Something was off with Isabella's relationship with Jacob. While walking her phone binged.

_**Hey Rae, my boss sent us home early, so I'll be able to look after Jet this evening. Spencer.**_

An idea formed in Rachel's head making her smirk.

_That's great news, Spency. Keep your phone next to you, I'm gonna call you in a few minutes. I have to speak to my boss first. Rae x_

Rachel slipped her phone back into her pocket and knocked on Hannah's door.

"Come," came a voice on the other side of the door.

When the door was opened, Rachel found Hannah looking at her computer with her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"What can I do for you Rae?" Hannah asked, taking off her glasses.

"There's a case that I'm dealing with and something isn't right. I wanted to see your opinion." Rachel said, sitting on a chair.

"Okay, let me see the file."

After about two minutes Hannah looked back up at Rachel.

"So what seems the problem?" Hannah asked.

"When I first met Jacob, he was quiet and refused to look at me. In the file it says he's nine, but he looks more like he's six or seven. It took some coaxing and then he finally looked at me. As we spoke, his voice was quiet and he seemed nervous. Almost like he was scared that I was going to tell him off. When I was preparing the things for the check up, the babysitter arrived in a state of panic and Jacob instantly became scared again. The babysitter was way too helpful and began to answer questions I directed at Jacob. She said she was there when Jacob fell, however in the file, it says witnesses said that another parent had to console Jacob and the babysitter was nowhere to be seen. It was only when the medics arrived did she turn up." Rachel finished.

"So what do you think is going on?" Hannah asked.

"I think the babysitter neglected the child. And in the worst case scenario, maybe she's abusing the boy." Rachel said, biting her lip. It was a habit she did when she was nervous.

"Hmmm. I think this is something to look into." Hannah mused. "However, we are going to need to question Jacob without Isabella there. We also need to analyse Isabella's behaviour with Jacob. However, nobody can do that right now. The person who would usually deal with these sorts of things isn't here today."

"I might have a solution to that." Rachel said slowly. "I have this friend, he's a FBI agent and works in the BAU. He's a profiler and he's off work. I can call him and ask him to come and profile Isabella for us."

There was silence for a few seconds as Hannah thought over all the possibilities when she finally came to a conclusion.

"Call you friend. If he's willing, he will be of great help." Hannah said. "When you've finished talking to him, we are going to call Jacob's parents. If what you think is true, then chances are, Isabella hasn't told the parents."

"Okay."

Rachel picked up her phone and dialled Spencer's number. He picked up after the second ring.

"Hello?"

"It's me Spency." Rachel said as Hannah raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

"Oh hi Rae, your response to my text was kind of weird." Spencer said.

"Yeah. I need your help. I'm going to tell you some things and I don't want you to interrupt." Rachel said.

As Rachel spoke to Spencer, Hannah watched her. Hannah always saw herself as a mother figure to Rachel and at times even to Jackson. When Jackson died, Hannah felt like she had lost a son and mourned for Jackson. She, just like Rachel, felt responsible for not being able to save Jackson, so when he died, Hannah struggled to control her emotions. When Rachel was off on compassionate leave, Hannah made sure to call her everyday and talked to her. Sometimes, they would go and get a coffee or some lunch. However Hannah felt that she could have done more for the young girl.

Hannah watched Rachel and even though Rachel had a serious face, Hannah could tell that Rachel was happy to speak to the man on the other end.

After about three minutes, Rachel came off the phone and a subtle smile on her face. "Spency said he will be here in the next ten minutes."

"Spency?" Hannah asked with a small smile on her face.

"Sorry. I meant Spencer." Rachel said with a blush coming on.

Hannah gave a small low chuckle. "Right we should call Jacob's parents."

Rachel nodded and moved closer to Hannah's office phone. It was decided that Rachel would be the one to talk to the parents and Hannah would listen.

A woman's voice was heard on the other end.

"Hello, this is Mrs. Evans. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is Dr Collins from Mary Washington Hospital-" Rachel said before being cut off by Mrs Evans.

"Hospital?! Who's in hospital? Is it Jacob? He is okay. When was he brought in? Why was he brought in?" Mrs Evan said all in a rush.

Rachel's eyes widened with shock and quickly took control of the conversation again.

"Jacob was admitted twenty minutes ago due to him falling off the climbing frame at a playground. He came with your babysitter Isabella."

"Isabella? Oh yes. She was taking care of him today. I'll be there as soon as I can, but I'm afraid that I'm currently on the other side of town. My husband is in a meeting but when he gets the news, he'll be there as soon as he can. Thank you for calling me Dr Collins." Mrs Evans said then hang up.

Rachel turned her head to Hannah with wide eyes. "So Isabella didn't call the parents then. It really makes me question everything else she's said to us."

Hannah nodded deep in thought. "It's a good thing your profiler friend is coming to help us. You better go and see if Jacob's scans have come through. Also have someone monitor that room, just in case Isabella tries to do anything stupid. Keep me in the loop."

Rachel nodded and left the office.

Rachel reached the nursing station and saw Caleb studying some scans. She went behind him and began to look over his shoulder, also studying the scans.

"Are those Jacob's?"

Caleb looked up. "Yeah, and from the looks of it seems like he's had quite a few broken bones in his little life. I then decided to look up his medical history to see if I can find any information on how these breakages came about. I saw that he was admitted two months ago for spraining his left ankle after he fell off his bike. And get this… He was with Isabella when these injuries all happened."

Rachel sat down.

"So you're telling me that another hospital saw the medical records and didn't think it was weird?" Rachel said, confused.

"The other hospital found it weird and questioned both Isabella, Jacob and the parents. Both Isabella and the parents said that Jacob was clumsy." Caleb said looking at his computer screens.

"Even if he is clumsy, he is supposed to be with the babysitter. She should have been watching him so these things don't happen. It makes me wonder what she's doing if she's not watching Jacob." Rachel said gravely.

Both Rachel and Caleb were silent as they both thought of the possible outcome of their discovery when Rebecca came hustling in.

"Hey Rachel! There's this tall, gorgeous, young man out front asking for you. He just got here. He's so handsome." Rebecca gushed.

Rachel gave a look to Rebecca. Rachel had known Spencer was handsome, but hearing someone else say it felt wrong. She got up without saying a word and walked to the main desk to bring Spencer in.

"Did I say something wrong?" Rebecca asked Caleb thinking she had just offended her best friend.

"No, she's just having a tough case right now. I think she might have a small crush on that guy that you just called handsome and gorgeous." Caleb smirked.

"Oh…" Rebecca said. "That man must be Spencer. Ever since she's come back, she's been texting him and vice versa. I wonder if they like each other."

Before Caleb could answer, Rachel returned with Spencer by her side who was looking like a lost puppy.

"Rebecca could you go and get Hannah for me please." Rachel said, still slightly glaring at Rebecca.

"Okey dokey!" Rebecca said as she winked at Rachel and went on her way. A few seconds later both Hannah and Rebecca appeared and waited for Rachel to introduce Spencer.

Rachel checked that Isabella wasn't near them before speaking.

"This is my friend Dr Spencer Reid. He's here to help us with the Jacob Evans case. He's a profiler and will be able to pick up things that we might miss. He's quite good at what he does as well." Rachel said causing Spencer to blush.

"So what hospital do you work at?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh I'm not that type of doctor. I have three doctorates in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering. And I have a degree in Sociology and Psychology." Spencer said not looking anywhere in particular.

"What are you some sort of genius?" Caleb asked, astonished at this young man in front of him.

"I have an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute. And I have an IQ of 187." Spencer said looking at everyone. "So yes I'm a genius."

Rebecca blinked. "So he's cute and intelligent."

Spencer gave a blush and looked down slightly and Rachel glared at Rebecca who gave a smile in response.

"Spencer is going to profile Jacob's and Isabella's behaviour and then see if he can get information from Jacob without Isabella being there." Hannah said in a low voice.

"Spencer and I will go in and give Jacob some medicine to 'help' him. In truth it will be water, that way we can be in the room and Spencer will be able to profile them. After about five minutes, Caleb you are going to come in and ask to speak to Isabella outside. Bring her back to the nurse station and occupy her for about ten minutes while Spencer and I speak to Jacob. How does that sound?" Rachel said, making sure everyone understood her.

"Sounds like a plan," Rebecca said now forgetting about her earlier comments on Spencer.

"I'll be around the area, if you need help with keeping Isabella at the station, just ask for my help." Hannah said looking at Caleb who nodded.

"One question. What are we going to do if Isabella asks how Spencer is?" Caleb said.

"We'll just say that he's one of the doctors who is observing." Hannah said.

With everything cleared, everyone got ready.


	14. Chapter 14

**Warning: Triggers. Mention of child abuse.**

* * *

**Translation: Don't do anything stupid. Or else.= Don't do anything stupid. Or else****.**

* * *

_**I don't hold grudges but keep memories. Those memories prepare me if or when we meet again.- Anne McCrea**_

* * *

Rachel and Spencer walked towards the room that Jacob was staying in. Rachel knocked on the door and opened the door.

"Hey Jacob, I'm here to give you some medicine. This is Dr Reid. He's here to watch and see what I'm doing." Rachel said in a soft voice. "Is that okay?"

Jacob nodded.

"Er… What is the medicine for?" Isabella said irritated which didn't go unnoticed by Spencer.

"It's to help with the any headaches that might occur." Rachel said calmly as she went over to Jacob and started to give the medicine.

While Rachel did this Isabella kept a firm glare at Rachel and whispered something Jacob. All Jacob gave a meek nod and tried to look everywhere else but at Isabella.

Half way through the 'medicine' Caleb came in.

"Sorry to bother you, but can I speak to Isabella. I need you to fill in some forms for me and make sure all the details are correct."

Isabella sighed. "Can't I do it here or a bit later? I don't to leave Jacob on his own. He might get a bit scared."

"There is a lot of paperwork and it would be easier on you. Also, Dr Collins and Dr Reid are very nice, they'll make sure Jacob is okay." Caleb said. "Will you be okay if you're left with the doctor Jacob?"

Jacob gave another nod causing Isabella to sigh.

As she got up, she whispered "**No hagas nada estúpido. O ya verás.**"

When Isabella had left with Caleb, Rachel looked at Spencer and nodded.

Rachel stopped giving Jacob the 'medicine'. They both sat next to Jacob's bed. Rachel looked at Jacob with compassion as she saw him looking down in fear. Spencer was going to speak first, but Jacob beat him to it.

"Am I in trouble?" Jacob said in a quiet voice.

"No sweetheart. We're here to talk to you." Rachel said. "We want to make sure that you're safe with Isabella. Do you feel safe with Isabella?"

Jacob nodded instantly.

"Is that the truth?" Rachel asked carefully and when she didn't get any response she carried on. "Did she say something along the lines that if you told someone, she'll hurt you?"

Jacob nodded, tears filled his eyes.

"Well, it's Dr Reid's and myself's jobs to keep you safe. Whatever Isabella said, it's not true. And if she wants to hurt you, we will protect you." Rachel said, holding Jacob's hand.

Jacob looked between Rachel and Spencer wondering if they were telling the truth or lying. Soon his eyes filled with tears.

"I'm not even clumsy! Isabella tells my parents I'm clumsy to cover herself. But she does it! She hurts me, and makes up some story that I fell off something, but it's her! She said that if… if… if… told anyone, she would sure the next one would hurt more." Jacob sobbed out.

Rachel leaned towards Jacob and held him as he sobbed. She mouthed to Spencer to get Hannah and he left the room.

When he left the room, he saw Isabella and Caleb leaning over the nurse station going over some files.

Spencer soon found Hannah.

"Dr Reid, how are things progressing?" Hannah asked and made a gesture for Spencer to walk and talk with her.

"From what I could see, Jacob was indeed scared of Isabella. She has this controlling behaviour which is usually shown in child abusers. The way she's over protective over Jacob and watches the doctors every move indicates that she is trying to hold a secret in. She is also is manipulative as she refused to let Jacob answer questions that were directed at him. Even without Jacob's confession, I could tell Isabella was abusing Jacob." Spencer said quietly.

"What? A confession?" Hannah asked looking Spencer in the eyes.

"Yes, Jacob told us that Isabella was abusing him. The different injuries in Jacob's files are a result of Isabella's abuse." Spencer said.

"Okay, I better follow protocol now. When you go back to the room, can you please tell Rachel to follow protocol and thank you for helping Dr Reid." Hannah said, now stopping in front of her office.

"It's Spencer. And your welcome Ms…"

"Just Hannah is fine." Hannah smiled. She turned to go to her office, but then stopped and turned back round to Spencer.

"Spencer, I have a question. How did you and Rachel really meet?" Hannah asked with a piercing look.

Spencer gulped. "Have you asked Rachel?"

"Yes, and she said you two met at a café."

"And you don't believe it?" Spencer mused.

"No."

"As much as I want to tell you Hannah, it's not my place to tell. It's Rachel's. And when she's ready, she'll tell you the real way we met." Spencer said. He didn't want to betray Rachel's trust and at the same time he didn't want to disrespect Hannah's respect.

Hannah sized Spencer and decided to drop the topic.

"Thanks again Spencer. I hope I'll see you again." Hannah smiled and went into her office and began to call the local police.

Spencer made his way to Rachel and Jacob. When he walked by the nurse station, Spencer was pleased to see that Isabella was head deep in paperwork. He quickly slipped past the desk and went back into the room, where he found Rachel sitting in the chair next to the bed and Jacob was asleep.

"He cried himself to sleep." whispered Rachel close to sobbing herself. "I tell myself everyday I come into work that I come into work to save people's lives no matter what type of saving they need. But when it's to do with a child… It's so hard for me to understand. When I saw the way he looked at Isabella earlier it…it… it reminded me-"

"Of when you were little and the bullies were hurting you."Spencer finished in a soft voice. "Because of you, another child will escape the grips of their abuser."

Rachel gave a watery smile and rubbed her eyes.

"Hannah said to go through with protocol." Spencer whispered.

Rachel nodded and stood up. "We have a code word for situations like these when the child is in the hospital with their abuser. The code word is computer. Can you find a way to put that word in a sentence and tell Caleb. When he hears that word, he'll find a way to distract Isabella for longer."

Spencer nodded and left the room again.

Rachel called two porters and they moved Jacob to a protective room to hide from Isabella. Front office was told that when the parents of Jacob arrived to show them to the protective room. Rachel didn't leave Jacob's side as he slept, when he woke up, he was happy to see a kind face. The two played some card games while they waited for Jacob's parents and the police.

Hannah had spread Rachel from having to explain the situation to Jacob's parents. When Mrs Evans arrived and saw Jacob she ran to him and gave him a hug. She began to cry and asked Jacob why he never said anything. Jacob replied saying he was scared and his mother hugged him tighter. His father had a similar reaction when he was told.

Half an hour later, the local police came to arrest Isabella. The police first took down the statements of the Evans household and then the staff at the hospital that were involved and Spencer's statement. When the police finally went to arrest Isabella, Rachel,Hannah, Spencer and the Evan family were there to witness.

After putting up a fight, Isabella Lopez was arrested as a child abuser and was taken away.

"You haven't seen the end of me Dr Collins!" Isabella shouted as the police officer pulled her away.

The Evans family came up to the doctors and thanked them for saving their son, and Jacob gave a hug to Rachel.

When the Evans family had left, Hannah turned to Rachel. "Go home Rae. It's been a long emotional day."

"But Hannah, I have a few more hours left of my shift." Rachel protested.

"Yes, I know. And I'm ordering you to go home. We have it covered here." Hannah said.

"But Hannah…" Rachel said but stopped half way when Hannah's expression.

"If you argue anymore, you won't come in tomorrow." Hannah said with a stern expression.

Rachel sighed. "Fine. Let me get my things." And she went to her locker.

Spencer watched with a smile. It was obvious that Hannah and Rachel had a mother and daughter relationship.

"I'll make sure she gets home safely," Spencer reassured Hannah.

"Please make sure she's okay. Today might have…"

"Triggered some bad memories?" Spencer asked. And when he saw Hannah's raised eyebrow he commented. "Rachel's told me about her past."

Hannah nodded in slight surprise. It seems that these two friends were closer than she thought.

When Rachel came back with her things she bid Caleb and Rebecca goodbye. As they were leaving, Spencer gave a comforting squeeze on Rachel's shoulder, something that both Caleb and Rebecca.

"I think they have a crush on each other." Rebecca said to Caleb.

"Really?" Caleb asked.

"You're telling me that you didn't just see that affectionate squeeze?"

"Maybe they're just friends." Caleb replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well if that's the case, I might bug Rachel to give me that man's number."

Caleb just rolled his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Because of you, I laugh a little harder, cry a little less and smile a lot more.- Unknown**_

* * *

Rachel was walking into work briskly as she was running late. She had woken up late and Jet was making it impossible to leave. The pup kept barking, standing in front of the door and whenever Rachel made a move to go out the door, he would start to gently bite her ankles. It was almost like he knew something was wrong.

As she entered the hospital, she saw the elevator doors were closing. She began to run towards it and just before the door closed another hand stopped the door from closing. It was a man in his 50s dressed in a suit and carried a briefcase. His hair was a salt and pepper mix and he was slightly balding. He wore his wedding ring with pride and when he saw it was Rachel his eyes became gentle. It was Jeff, one the directors of the hospital. He was also married to Hannah, Rachel's boss.

When Rachel finally caught her breath, and made a mental note to work out more, she addressed Jeff.

"Good morning Mr Scott, thank you for holding the door for me." Rachel said with a small sly smile. She had always seen Jeff as a father much like she saw Hannah as a mother.

"Rachel, how many times do I have to tell you to drop the Mister and just call me Jeff?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"But Jeff, if someone here's me calling you by your first name, they might think there is some sort of favouritism happening." Rachel said.

"Tough on them. You have spent Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year with me. Imagine if you called me Mister then? It would have been weird, would it not?" Jeff mused.

Rachel nodded.

"Here I'll make you a deal Rachel, you can call me Mister if you please when we are at work, but outside of hours you can call me Jeff."

"Deal" Rachel said as she reached her floor. "Goodbye Mr Jeff." And she quickly walked out the elevator.

Jeff gave a slight chuckle. "This kid is one of a kind."

In another city, the BAU team looked at the screen in front of them. On the screen showed a terrified Spencer tied to a chair as Tobias Hankel walked around. Each member held their breaths as Tobias yelled at Spencer to tell him to pick a member of his team to kill.

Spencer whimpered as a gun was pointed to his forehead. He took one glance at the camera in front of him and then back at Hankel. Spencer was never a religious man and didn't pray, but in that minute, Spencer prayed. He prayed that the riddle that he was going to say would be enough to save him.

"I chose Aaron Hotchner."

Tobias grinned. "Good choice, tell me why you chose him?"

"He's a classic narcissist. He thinks he's better than everyone else on the team. Genesis 23, 4. 'Let him not deceive himself and trust in emptiness. He shall be your recompense." Spencer winced.

The team watched with their hearts in their hands, but when Hotch heard the words of Spencer, he instantly left the room and Morgan, Emily and JJ followed him.

"I'm not a narcissist," Hotch said.

"Come on Hotch, don't take anything to heart." Morgan said.

"No, stop, stop." Hotch said, holding his hand up. " Alright, everyone tell me now what's my worst quality?"

The room was silent.

"Okay, I'll start then. I have no sense of humour," Hotch said with a straight face.

"You're a bully," JJ said sheepishly.

"You can be a drill sergeant sometimes," Morgan said.

"You don't trust women as much as you do with men," Emily pitched in.

"Okay, good. I'm all these things, but none of you said that I put myself above the team because I don't ever. Reid and I argued about the definition of a classic narcissist. And he knew that I would remember that, he also quoted Genesis chapter 23 verse 4. Read it." Hotch said passing a bible to JJ.

"I am a stranger and sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight." JJ read looking up.

"He wouldn't get it wrong, unless it's on purpose." Hotch looking at the team.

"He's in a graveyard," Morgan said.

"Let's go," Hotch said.

Meanwhile, Gideon stayed behind with Gracia who was still looking at Spencer. Gideon knew in himself that a relative of Spencer needed to be altered of what was happening. However, he knew that it wouldn't be wise to contact Spencer's mother and with Spencer's father out of the picture, it left Gideon with one choice.

"Gracia, I need you to find this person's number."

"Right now?" Gracia said not trying to be rude, but she really wanted to keep an eye on Spencer. "Can I do it after Spencer is safe?"

"I think Spencer will greatly appreciate it if this person is contacted." Gideon said while looking at the screen, watching Spencer.

"Okay then," Gracia mumbled.

"Her name is Rachel Collins. She is a doctor at Mary Washington Hospital. She's in her mid twenties." Gideon said.

"She's a friend of Spencer?" Gracia said after telling Gideon the number.

"Yes." Was all Gideon said before dialling the number.

"Hello," a soft voice came through the phone.

"Is this Dr Rachel Collins?" Gideon asked even though he recognised the voice.

"Yes."

"This is Jason Gideon, Spencer's boss."

"Jason? What's wrong? Is Spencer okay? I've been trying to call him but he hasn't been answering." Rachel said in a panic.

Gracia looked up when she heard how concerned Rachel sounded on the phone.

"Rachel, I want you to go find someone you trust and then put the phone on loudspeaker. And I'll tell you then." Gideon said in a steady voice.

They heard some rustling and quiet voices before hearing a door close.

"Jason, I'm with Hannah, my boss. I trust her and she knows Spencer." Rachel said in now a calmer voice.

Gracia looked at Gideon with questioning eyes. She was confused on how these two people were close to Spencer as Spencer had never mentioned having a friend. Gideon ignored Gracia's looks.

"Rachel, I want you to sit down."

"I'm sitting down Jason. Can you please tell me what's going on?" Rachel said with urgency.

"While on a case here in Georgia, the case took a turn for the worse. Spencer was out searching for evidence and possibly the murder with another agent. The two agents separated and unfortunately the murder found Spencer and struck down and kidnapped." Gideon said, looking grave at the phone in his hand.

They heard a gasp which was followed by sob.

Gideon continued. "He was taken to what we now know as a graveyard. The team is going to get him as we speak. Spencer has suffered from a lot, and I think he will appreciate to see you when we land. I understand if you can't make-"

"I'll be there." Rachel cut him.

"I'll let the airport know you are coming. Make sure to bring some form of credentials with you. You can also bring however you want with you." Gideon said as he felt Gracia nudging him.

She showed him a text from Morgan saying that they found Spencer. It also said that Spencer was refusing to go to hospital and Hotch was trying to convince Spencer to go. It gave Gideon an idea to make everyone happy.

"Rachel could you please bring a first aid kit with supplies to do a check up. I've just got a text saying that the team have found Spencer but he's refusing to go to the hospital."

"That sounds like Spencer." Rachel whispered out with relief filled in her sentence. "I'll bring a kit with me."

"I'll text you when we are about to get on the plane."

"Thank you Jason. I'll see you soon." And Rachel hung up.

When the call was over, Gracia looked at Gideon.

"Who was that?" She asked.

"Like I said, Spencer's friend."

"How come we never heard about her?"

"I don't know Gracia but I'm sure you'll meet her soon. I also order you not to look into Rachel's files. Knowing Spencer, there must be a reason why we haven't heard him speak about Rachel before. Do I make myself clear?" Gideon said with a stone look.

"Yes Sir." Gracia said looking down.

When everyone was on the plane, Gideon went to sit next to Spencer.

"Spencer, I don't want you to be alarmed, but I've told Rachel what's happened." Gideon said in a quiet voice through there was no point as the whole team was listening.

Since the team had rescued Spencer, every member watched every move Spencer made. So when they saw Gideon talking to Spencer they all listened in.

Spencer looked up in panic. "You told Rachel? Why? It will just worry her."

"Someone you trust needed to know and she was the best person to call." Gideon answered in a calm voice. "She'll be waiting for us at the airport and she has a medical kit with her. You will allow her to do a full check up on you and there'll be no arguing."

Spencer nodded and hung his head slightly. So many thoughts were running through his mind.

"Who's Rachel?" Morgan asked.

"Rachel is my friend." Spencer said.

"What's her full name?" Emily asked.

"Dr Rachel Collins of Mary Washington Hospital." Gracia answered. "She's twenty four years old. She originally was a doctor in the ER however she recently moved to the pediatric ward. She has a clean record."

"Gracia, I told you not to look into Rachel." Gideon said sternly.

"I know you did, but I needed to know she was safe. I mean Spencer was just kidnapped, how did I know that she wasn't going to hurt Spencer?" Gracia asked.

"It's okay Gideon." Spencer said in a small voice.

The team was satisfied with Gracia's answer about Spencer's friend and stopped asking questions about Rachel.

Half an hour later, the plane was landing and Spencer was looking forward to getting off the plane. Hotch helped him get up and then down the plane's stairs.

As he was coming down the stairs, he saw two figures waiting next to a car. It was Rachel and Hannah.

"Spency!" Rachel said as she ran forward and brought Spencer in a hug. The hug was weak as Rachel didn't know the extent of Spencer's injuries.

The rest of the team were shocked to see Spencer hug Rachel back; it was commonly known that Spencer didn't like physical contact. They were also surprised to know that Rachel had given Spencer a nickname.

Rachel began to cry into Spencer's shoulder and Spencer held Rachel close.

"Rae, I'm okay. It's okay. There's no need to cry." Spencer reassured Rachel.

"For a few minutes, I thought I'd lost you like I lost Jackson." Rachel whispered.

Spencer smiled. "You haven't lost me yet Rae."

Rachel smiled weakly and pulled away from the hug. "My mom came with me. I didn't know if I could do this by myself."

Spencer figured that Rachel didn't want his team to know that she brought her boss. He turned around and smiled at Hannah. Ever since the Jacob Evan's case, Spencer became close to Hannah and her husband. Every Sunday, Rachel went to dinner at their house and after the case, Hannah asked Spencer to join and he felt welcome. He would play chess with Jeff and Hannah would say that he needs to be fattened up.

Rachel smiled weakly at the rest of the team before turning back to Spencer. "Spency, my mom's going to do the check up."

"The office isn't far from here," Gideon said. "We can do the check up there."

Everyone nodded and went to different cars to go back to Quantico.

When they finally reached Quantico, the check up was held in the briefing room. The team had disguised them going to the office to do paperwork but they wanted to make sure Spencer was taken good care of.

With everything set up in the briefing room, Hannah began her check up on Spencer. Everything was going fine until Hannah noticed needle pricks in Spencer's arms. Hannah looked up at Spencer in which he hung his head with shame.

Hannah sighed and whispered, "We'll talk about this later." And then dropped the subject.

After finishing the check up, Hannah gave a grunt as she stood up and turned towards Gideon and Hotch. "Spencer's in good shape given the circumstances. He needs some sleep and if he starts getting a headache or joints start to ache, taking some painkillers will help. But what he mainly needs is some sleep."

Gideon stepped forwards and held his hand out and shook Hannah's hand. "Thank you."

Spencer stood up from the chair, with Rachel by his side. Morgan, Emily and JJ watched the two friends.

"Why do I find it weird that Spencer has a close friend?" Emily asked the other two.

"I think the question you should be asking is why is Spencer so close to this friend and seems to be close to her mother as well." JJ said.

"Pretty boy has a lot of answering to do." Morgan said as he watched the pair.

It was clear to all the profilers that Rachel wasn't putting a show for them and the two friends were really close. They watched as Rachel whispered something loud enough for only Spencer to hear in which he gave a small smile and whispered something back. Whatever he whispered was enough to make Rachel laugh and Spencer looked quite proud of that.

Hotch watched them laugh before gently clearing his throat, catching the attention of both Rachel and Spencer. "We need to discuss where Spencer is staying."

"I don't need to be a babysitter, Hotch." Spencer argued.

"No, your boss is right. You need to stay with someone." Hannah said quite sternly.

Spencer was taken by surprise. Being told off by Hannah, reminded him of the times when he was younger and his mother wasn't as bad as she was, would tell him off.

"He can stay with me," Rachel said in a clear voice.

Morgan looked startled as Rachel had beaten him in offering. Emily, JJ and Gracia looked skeptical and Rachel picked up on it and sighed.

"We can stay at my parents' house. There would be three people in the house, all of whom are doctors. If anything was to happen to Spencer, he will be in good hands." Rachel said.

Before anyone could argue or agree, Gideon stepped in. "Spencer will stay at Rachel's parents home and tomorrow, if they seem fit, he can then stay at Rachel's." The tone of his voice warned the rest of the team not to comment.

"When can I go back to work?" Spencer asked in a small voice.

"You must really like your desk," Rachel muttered, making Hotch give a small smile and he turned towards Hannah.

"I think he should be able to go back to work within a week." Hannah said with a slight smile on her face.

"Alright, let's get Spencer's home now." Gideon said as Spencer, Rachel and Hannah left the room.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Anything's possible when you have the right people there to support you- Misty Copeland**_

* * *

Throughout the whole ride back to Hannah's house, Spencer and Rachel talked about things unrelated to the day. Rachel spoke about her favorite episode of Doctor Who and Spencer would pitch in whenever he felt the need to. The two friends sat in the back seat while Hannah drove.

Once they reached the house, Jeff, Hannah's husband, was at the door waiting for them. He then helped Spencer into the house and into the living room.

"Spencer, do you want anything to eat?" Jeff asked.

"No thank you," Spencer yawned. "If you don't mind, I would like to get some sleep."

"Of course," Hannah said and Jeff helped Spencer into one of the guest rooms.

When the two males were out of the living room, Hannah turned to Rachel.

"How're you holding up?" Hannah asked as she sat down next to Rachel.

"What do you mean? I wasn't the one who was kidnapped." Rachel said with a straight face as she stared at the wall in front of her.

"Yes, but you will become a support system for someone who was." Hannah looked at Rachel. "And I want to make sure that you're strong enough for that. It wasn't long ago that Jackson passed and I need to make sure that it doesn't bring back any bad memories."

Rachel sighed before looking Hannah straight in the eyes. "Spencer was there for me when I was grieving for Jackson. He never judged me what I did nor did he find me a burden. I need to repay that to him. I need to be available to Spencer in case he needs someone to talk to or someone to cry on or someone to laugh with. I need to be there and I will be there for him."

Hannah smiled and gave Rachel a hug. "I'm glad you're going to do that Rae. But if you ever need someone else to lean on, Jeff and myself will be there for the both of you. Now go upstairs and make sure that Jeff isn't talking up a storm."

Rachel gave a light chuckle and went upstairs.

She saw Jeff about to enter the room he shared with his wife. "How is he?" Rachel asked quietly.

"When I left, he was getting into bed, and that was about ten mintues ago. I think he might be sleeping now."

Rachel nodded. "Thanks, Jeff."

"Anytime Kid." Jeff said then went into his room.

Rachel then turned to the room that Spencer was sleeping in and gave a small knock on the door. She heard a weak "come in," and she opened the door.

When she opened the door she saw Spencer was under the covers but he wasn't asleep. Instead he was staring at the thin air. Rachel closed the door behind her and stood in the doorway and waited till Spencer saw her.

After about 30 seconds, Spencer felt eyes on him and he looked up. He saw that Rachel was looking at him with kind eyes. He gave a small smile and beckoned for her to come closer.

"Hey," Rachel whispered.

"Hey," Spencer replied and patted the space next to him and Rachel sat down.

There was a moment of silence before Rachel spoke again.

"Jeff thought you were sleeping."

"I can't sleep," Spencer said truthfully, realizing that there was no point lying to Rachel. "Everytime I close my eyes, he's there. Or there's a gun at my head and I can't get it out of my head."

Rachel didn't say anything for a few seconds. "It's normal to have those thoughts. You just went through something traumatic."

"But when will I become normal again?" Spencer asked in a quiet voice.

"You were never normal in the first place, Spency. You were you. And it could take days, weeks, months or maybe even years for you to feel like you again. But I want you to know that I'm here for you." Rachel said as she held Spencer's bigger hand in her small hands.

Spencer gave a watery smile.

"It's okay to cry Spency. You don't have to pretend to be strong for me, yourself or anyone else."

Tears silently fell from Spencer's eyes as the day's events hit him. Rachel held him close to her and rubbed circles into Spencer's back. When he had calmed down, Spencer turned to Rachel.

"I want to tell you something that happened to me Rae, but I'm not ready to tell you yet."

"It's okay Spency. Tell me whenever you're ready." Rachel said, still hugging Spencer. "I should leave you to get some sleep."

Spencer looked up and thought popped into his mind. His cheeks went a light shade of pink and Rachel noticed.

"Do you want me to stay in here with you tonight?" Rachel asked.

"Yes please. I feel like if I'm here on my own, I'll get nightmares." Spencer said as he looked down.

"It's fine, I'll get changed and get a sleeping bag." Rachel said as she turned to leave.

"No, don't get the sleeping bag. The bed is big enough for both of us and we're both adults." Spencer said, cheeks now a distinctive colour of pink.

Rachel smiled and left the room, leaving Spencer with his own thoughts.

As he waited for Rachel to come back he allowed his mind to back through the day. He remembered when he was tied to the chair that one of the things willing him on to keep fighting was Rachel. Whenever he thought about Rachel, a small fuzzy feeling would form in Spencer's stomach. He needed to speak to Hotch soon.

Spencer was brought out of his thoughts by the door opening and Rachel walking in. She was wearing a pink top that said 'Love is all you need' and some Friends joggers. Spencer beckoned her to the bed and moved over creating more space for her.

Once Rachel was in bed, and Spencer had turned off the lamp on the bedside table, there was silence. Both parties laid in the bed awkwardly, neither of them knowing what to do or say. Two minutes later Rachel began to sing softly. It wasn't loud but it was delicate and gentle, almost like a lullaby.

Spencer was surprised as it was the first time he had heard Rachel sing. The song was pulling, making him sleepy but Spencer fought the need to sleep as he wanted to hear the rest of the song. When the song was over, Spencer gave a small smile.

"That song was beautiful Rae."

"It was a song that Jackson used to sing to me when I was younger and I couldn't sleep. The song is part of my childhood and it always puts me to sleep. I thought it might help you go to sleep."

Spencer smiled. "It was lulling me to sleep. Can you sing it again?"

Rachel sang the song again but this time even more slowly than she had done before. When she had finished the song, she turned towards Spencer and she noticed he was fast asleep, she too went to sleep.

The next morning, Spencer woke up to hear the birds chirping and feeling hair on his face and arms. After a few minutes, Spencer opened his eyes and saw that he was spooning Rachel. Throughout the night, Spencer concluded that they must have moved closer causing them to now be cuddling.

Spencer blushed and slowly and carefully untangled himself from Rachel. He then closed the door and went to the bathroom then to the kitchen.

Spencer had been to Hannah's and Jeff's house enough times to know where everything was. After he helped them with the Evan case, he had grown close to Hannah. Spencer found himself at Hannah's every Sunday that he didn't have a case. As a result, Spencer began to know Jeff quite well too. There are very few people that could listen to Spencer's ramble, and both Hannah and Jeff were one of those people. All in all, whenever he was at their house, Spencer felt like he was welcomed.

Entering the kitchen, Spencer saw Hannah sitting at the dinner table having a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper. When she heard someone entering the room, Hannah looked up and gave a small smile to Spence who returned it.

Over the cause of the night, Hannah had a few things running through her mind. And as she watched Spencer making himself a cup of coffee and some toast, some of her worries were put to rest. Hannah was happy that Spencer was having something to eat, especially after she mentioned that she was going to 'fatten' Spencer up. But there was a question that was still concerning Hannah.

With Spencer comfortable at the dinner table eating, Hannah felt like it was the right time to ask her question and started with general conversation.

"How're you feeling today Spencer?"

"A bit achy, but nothing too serious." Spencer said looking straight ahead. He had a feeling what was going to happen but he didn't say anything.

"How's your head?"

"Doesn't hurt at all."

"That's good, is Rae still sleeping?" Hannah asked even though she knew the answer.

"Yeah she was fast asleep when I woke up. I doubt she'll be awake anytime soon. Where's Jeff?"

"He had a meeting to go to. He should be back later." Hannah said and looked at Spencer carefully.

Spencer began to feel weird having Hannah looking at him for so long. He knew that she wanted to ask a question that was obviously bugging her. "Is something wrong Hannah?"

Hannah took a sip of her tea, and looked Spencer straight in the eyes, just like a mother would look at their child when they are speaking about something serious.

"Spencer, I need you to be honest with me. And I don't want to patronising, but I want

to help you." Hannah said carefully.

Spencer nodded.

"Spencer, when I examined you yesterday, I saw needle pricks in your arm. I need to know if Tobias gave you anything." Hannah said in a soft voice.

Spencer gulped and didn't answer.

"Spencer, I need to know.I'm not going to judge you, but I need you to tell me."

There was a minute of silence as Spencer collected his thoughts.

"Tobias, when he was trying to help me, injected me with dilaudid. It eased the pain. I promise I didn't want it, but it helped me!" Spencer sobbed.

Hannah sighed and hugged Spencer. "Spencer this isn't your fault. It's Tobias Hankle's. You didn't ask to be kidnapped and you didn't ask to be injected either."

"But Hannah, he injected me multiple times and if my workplace found out, I could lose my job." Spencer cried. He didn't really care that he was crying in the arms of his friend's mother.

Hannah held Spencer and calmed him down. When Spencer had stopped crying, Hannah had already formulated a plan.

"Spencer I have a plan in mind that will help you but will also make sure that you don't lose your job."

Spencer nodded but cut Hannah before she could continue. "Hannah there's something you need to know. When the team found me, before we left the graveyard, I… I… took two syringes of dilaudid. Hankle had them in his pocket and I took them. I thought I would need them, I thought I would have to use them. I'm sorry Hannah!"

Hannah paused and looked at Spencer with kind eyes. "Don't worry Spence. We'll figure everything out. After we finish talking I want you to go and get the dilaudid, I will dispose of them. I'm going to set you up in a group that will help you talk about the addiction or possible addiction. If you think you're getting withdrawal symptoms tell me and I will extend your sick leave."

Spencer looked at her with grateful eyes. Although he didn't want to go to a therapy session about addiction, he knew that if he wanted to keep his job, he would need to go.

"But Spencer, this is something that we can't hide from Rachel." Hannah said gently. "We are going to need to tell her as she too will need to see if you have any withdrawal symptoms."

Spencer nodded and in a weak voice, he said "I was planning on telling her anyways along with other things as well. But I was waiting for the right moment."

"There might never be a right moment Spencer, but you do need to tell her. Now go and get the tubes so I can get rid of them."

Spencer left and returned with the dilaudid. As he handed them to Hannah he said, "Thank you Hannah."

"No problem Spencer."


	17. Chapter 17

_**People who make no noise are dangerous- Jean De La Fontaine**_

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Spencer admitted to having a problem with dilaudid and was receiving help from Hannah and the therapy sessions. Throughout all this, Rachel stood by Spencer and helped him. After leaving Hannah's house, Spencer found himself sleeping in Rachel's guest room. The two friends spent the majority of their time together to the point where Spencer felt comfortable enough to formally introduce the team to her.

It was Henry's birthday and JJ thought it would be the perfect opportunity for the team to meet Rachel. The party would be a relaxed setting and hopefully Rachel would feel comfortable. Everyone was excited to finally meet Rachel, the friend that kept their genius happy.

The Friday before Henry's Rachel was finishing some paperwork while talking to Rebecca.

"So, let me get this straight. You have agreed to go to Spencer's godson's birthday tomorrow? And the only person you will know will be Spencer?" Rebecca asked leaning over the printer.

"Well, if Jason is going, that will be another person. But yes I'm going to the birthday party." Rachel sighed for the sixth time. For some reason, the stupid printer kept saying that it was low on paper, even though Rachel had just put in some more.

"Why are you going?" Rebecca said as she knew Rachel didn't really like making new friends.

"I'm going because Spencer asked me to go." Rachel said.

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Rebecca smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have been spending quite a lot of time with Spencer. If I was a fool,I would say that Spencer is your new best friend. But I know he can't take that title from me. So… that leaves me with one answer."

"Which is?" Rachel said half distracted from the conversation as she was still having a battle with the printer.

"You. Like. Him." Rebecca said confidently.

Rachel stopped what she was doing and slowly turned to Rebecca. "Why would you think that?"

Rebecca laughed at the shock written on her friend's face. "You spend a lot of time with him. Not only that, you went all mama bear when I asked you for his number. I honestly thought that was my last day on earth. And you're always wearing that necklace that he brought you out of the blue. I mean, do you ever take that necklace off?"

Rachel blushed and looked back at the mention of the necklace that she proudly. She honestly loved the necklace so much. Whenever she was having a particular hard day, Rachel would hold the necklace and play with it. When Spencer gave her the necklace, he had failed to mention that the necklace could also hold a picture. The picture that Rachel had used was one of herself and Spencer holding Jet when they first bought him. Rachel loved how happy Spencer looked in that picture, while holding the over excited dog.

"Like I said before, you like Spencer. I think you might even be a bit in love with him." Rebecca said, as Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Changing the subject, are you going to the club with Caleb later?" Rachel said, letting out a sigh when the printer finally began to print.

"Yeah are you coming?"

"Nah, I want to get an early night because I have to get up early tomorrow. And also I don't fancy having a hangover while being around children." Rachel laughed.

"Okay be safe though." Rebecca said. "Hey remember those flowers that came the other day for you, who were they from?"

"I think they were from the Evans family." Rachel said.

* * *

A dark figure stood at the corner of the sidewalk watching everyone. It was a busy evening and nobody took notice of him. The man pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep breath inhaling the smoke and continued to watch.

As he smoked, he checked his high price watch for the time. He watched a group of people leave the hospital, and one of the women dropped her purse but hadn't noticed.

The man finished his cigarette and picked the purse up. He then called for the woman who turned back. The man knew it was Rebecca, not that Rebecca knew the man.

Rebecca smiled gingerly and took her purse and she noticed that on his left arm, the man had a tattoo of a knife. As quickly as she could, Rebecca ran off to catch up with the group she had just left.

The man watched and chuckled. A few minutes later, the person he had been waiting for appeared. She was in a rush as she moved towards her car.

The man gave a sinister smile. It was the same woman that he sent the flowers to earlier that week claiming to be from the Evans.

_It won't be long till you meet me in person, Rachel Collins, and this time you will pay._

* * *

Early the next morning, Rachel had just finished getting Jet ready. Spencer thought it would be a good idea to bring Jet to the party too. After having her breakfast, Rachel got a text from Spencer saying that he was outside. Getting her things together and putting Jet on a lead, Rachel left her apartment and got into Spencer's car. When she entered the car, she handed Spencer a croissant.

"Oooo thanks." Spencer said as he started to drive to JJ's.

For the most part of the journey was done in silence as the radio played some music.

"Are you nervous?" Spencer asked randomly.

"A bit," Rachel said truthfully. "I'm worried that they might find out the reason on how we met."

Approaching a red stop sign, Spencer turned and looked at Rachel who looked very concerned.

"We will go with the story of me spilling coffee on you. It is believable as it is something that might likely happen because I'm clumsy." Spence said eyes back on the road.

"Yeah, but they're profilers. They will be able to see if I'm lying and when they do, they might ask."

Spencer thought for a moment. "If they do ask, just make it into a joke and make me tell the story."

Rachel nodded.

"But in all seriousness Rae, you have nothing to be worried about. They are going to love you, I promise." Spence chuckled. "And by the way, we're here."

Rachel smiled and took Jet out of the backseat. The trio walked about to JJ's house and rang the doorbell. Will opened the door and smiled when he saw Spencer.

"Hey Spencer, how are ya?" Will asked.

"I'm good thanks. Will, I want you to meet Rachel." Spencer while Will shook hands with Rachel.

"Nice to meet you Rachel, JJ told me that you would be coming today." Will said.

"Ah yes, Spencer decided to drag me out my bed this morning, not that I had anything planned for today." Rachel smiled.

"And who's this cute little fellow," Will said, bending down to pet Jet.

"This is Jet, I share ownership with Spencer. I look after him when Spencer is going on a case and vice versa. When I have to work long hours at work, Spencer will look after him." Rachel said as she watched Jet enjoy the petting.

Before Will could reply, Henry ran and gave a tight hug to Spencer's legs while yelling "Uncle Spencer!"

Spencer smiled and picked the birthday boy up. "Hello Henry. How are you?"

"Good. Guess what Uncle Spencer."

"What?"

"It's my birthday! Mommy and daddy got me a bike! Wanna see me ride it?" Henry asked all in one breath.

"Oooo I would love to see you ride the bike. But before I see you ride your bike, I want you to meet my friend. This is Rachel."

Henry looked from Spencer to Rachel and then back at Spencer again. He then made grabby hands at Rachel who took him into her arms. Will watched in surprise, knowing that Henry wasn't this friendly with strangers.

"Hi Rachel. It's my birthday!" Henry exclaimed. "Wanna see me ride my bike?"

Rachel chuckled. "Sure why not." Putting Henry down.

"Henry you need to go and ask your mother before you go on the bike." Will imputed before his son took Rachel's hand and led her in the house.

The adults walked into the house that was now covered in different colour balloons. Jet looked curious as he saw a balloon. He tried to bite it, but was soon pulled away by Spencer.

When they entered the kitchen, they found JJ who was getting the food and drinks ready for the party. Hearing footsteps, JJ looked up.

"Mommy, I want to show Rachel and Uncle Spencer my bike, but Daddy said I have to ask you." Henry bouncing on his feet.

"Oh? Spencer and Rachel are here? Sure honey but be careful." And with that Henry was off in the garden.

JJ went over to greet Spencer and then turned to Rachel smiling. "Hi Rachel, I'm glad to finally meet you properly."

"Same here."

"And is this that beautiful puppy that is on your desk Spencer?" JJ asked, eyeing the puppy.

"Yep! This is the famous Jet." Spencer said as Jet enjoyed all the extra attention he was getting.

"Rachel! Are you coming to see me ride my bike?" Henry yelled.

"You better get going, that boy has been very demanding today." JJ sighed.

Rachel left with Jet and went into the garden. Once Henry and Jet had been formally introduced to each other, Rachel ran alongside Henry as he peddled while Jet chased them. Henry was having the time of his life and so was Jet.

Just like her husband, JJ was shocked at how comfortable Henry was with Rachel.

"I've never seen Henry this close to someone that he just met." JJ said, still in awe.

"Well, Rachel is a Doctor that works on the children ward. She must have to deal with plenty of children, and as a result is very comfortable around them. Henry must sense that and is therefore comfortable around Rachel.

The three adults left Rachel to play with Henry as they got things ready for the party. Rachel didn't notice that people had started to arrive and when she did, she couldn't find Spencer. Henry had got off his bike, and went to get a drink to speak to some of the other members of the BAU.

Jet soon began to whine, wanting attention. Rachel knelt down and began to play with the pup and didn't hear someone approaching her.

"Rachel?" A voice said as Rachel looked up from Jet.

"Yes." Rachel said as she looked at the man now standing in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Morgan. I saw you and thought I would come and say hi seeing you're not playing chase the bike." Morgan smiled.

Rachel laughed. "Oh yes. It's even a while since I've run for so long without a break."

"Really? You look like a natural" Morgan said. "And take that from someone who goes to the gym regularly."

"I try and go on runs with this little guy, but it's never been that intense or long." Rachel smiled.

"You look after Jet?" Morgan asked, looking confused. "I thought he was Pretty Boy's."

Rachel laughed. "Pretty boy? That's a new one. But I look after Jet whenever Spencer goes on cases. And Spencer looks after Jet when I work the night shift."

"What do you call Spencer then?"

"Wikipedia or Doctor Who. But mostly Spency." Rachel laughed.

"Wikipedia?Ooo I like that one. Come on let's go and annoy him."

The duo went to the living room where they found everyone else crowding around a table.

"Hey Wikipedia, pass me the drink will you?" Morgan said with a cheeky grin.

"Not you too. I knew it was a bad idea for you to be introduced to Morgan." Spencer groaned.

Everyone laughed.

"Seeing everyone is here I'll introduce you to everyone. Everyone, this is Rachel, she's my friend. Rachel, you've already met Gideon, JJ, Will and now Morgan. But everyone else Hotch, Emily and Garcia. And that's J-"

"Rachel!" Jack said as he ran and hugged her. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"That's because you haven't done anything stupid hurt yourself." Rachel said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep you can say that again." Hotch said.

Spencer looked so confused.

"Rachel has looked after Jack when I've taken him to the doctor whether it's for a checkup or a scan." Hotch answered.

"Yep, and Rachel is the best doctor ever. She makes me feel better instantly." Jack said, smiling at his favourite doctor.

"Looks like you know most of us then." JJ said, smiling.

Garcia walked over to Rachel, "I've seen that shirt someone."

"I got at Zara's," Rachel said looking down at the top. "I love that shop."

"OMG you love that shop too? Emily, JJ, we need to take Rachel with us the next time we go shopping." Garcia said with a big smile on her face.

Emily nodded. "That sounds like a plan."

"Sorry to disrupt the conversation, but who wants cake?"

The children all got excited and so did some of the adults. Jet, who found his way to the living room, was now trying to eat some of Rachel's cake.

Soon everyone migrated to the backyard, as Henry went on his bike and this time Jake ran with him and Jet followed close behind. Rachel was in deep conversation with the women as Morgan and Will made sure the kids were okay.

Spencer stood back and watched how Rachel felt so comfortable with everyone.

"You like her," Hotch said standing next to Spencer.

"Hmmm? What do you mean?"

"You want to pursue a romantic relationship with Rachel."

"How do you know that?" Spencer asked, feeling a light blush on his cheeks.

"The way you look at her, I noticed it when her mother was driving you a check up. You like her." Hotch said. "The way it took you long for you to introduce her to us. How long have you known each other?"

"Nine months."

"And it took you that long. It shows you want to have something solid before you introduce her to people you think of as family."

Spencer sighed. "I do like Rachel and I would like for us to be more than friends but I don't how move on from-"

"Maeve" Hotch finished.

"Yeah." Spencer said looking down. "How did you move on from Haley?"

"I never properly moved from her. She'll always have a place in my heart, but I learnt to make room for someone else. I told Beth about Haley and Beth understood. If she can't understand about Maeve, then she's not the one for you." Hotch said watching Jake.

Spencer hummed. "I'm going to tell her soon about Maeve. I think I owe her that much, after she opened up to me."

Hotch raised his eyebrow.

"Let's just say, when I met Rachel, she wasn't in the best place. But now she is." Spencer said feeling like he could trust Hotch.

"Just tell her when you read Spencer. People can surprise you."

Meanwhile, Rachel was in a deep conversation with the girls.

"Rachel, where did you get that beautiful necklace from?" Garcia asked.

"Spencer gave it to me." Rachel said as Emily took a closer look.

"So you're the girl he wanted to give it to." JJ said, smiling. "A few months ago, Spencer asked what the best gift for a girl is. I said if you want to play it safe, then jewellery. He came back to me later that week and showed me that necklace. I thought it was amazing."

"Yeah I love it." Rachel said smiling.

A few hours later Henry and Jack were tired and JJ announced it was time for Henry to go to bed. Everyone took that as their cue to leave.

The women and Morgan exchanged numbers with Rachel and the women promised that they would go on a shopping spree soon.

With a sleepy Jet in her arms, Rachel and Spencer left JJ's house and got into Spencer's car.

"It wasn't too bad was it?" Spencer asked.

"No it wasn't. Everyone is lovely, Spency." Rachel yawned.

"Oh? Is it someone's bedtime?" Spencer joked.

"Shush you." Rachel laughed.


	18. Chapter 18

_**I truly never learned what the words 'I miss you' were until I reached for my friend's hand and it wasn't there.-Unknown**_

* * *

Rachel was getting ready to spend the day with the BAU girls. It was a warm day, and the girls had decided to go on a shopping spree. Jet was going to be with Spencer who was going out with Morgan and Clooney.

The day was going girls had gone and got some lunch, and was now in a shop. JJ and Gracia were going through the clothing rack while Rachel and Emily sat down and watched, as they had already picked out what they wanted.

Unknowing to them, a man was following Rachel and had even been doing for the last week and half, watching Rachel's smiled as he remembered the small interaction he had with Rebecca a few days ago. Seeing Rachel look so relaxed caused him to a thrill and he forgot that he was supposed to be hating Rachel. To him, Rachel was like an expensive object, an object that was extremely valuable but was extremely dangerous. An object that belonged to smile, however, was soon wiped off at the mention of Spencer's name.

_Spency_, the man scoffed. The man knew who Spencer was and he hated Spencer. After following Rachel, the man knew that the two friends spent a lot of time together and this angered the man.

How dare _Spency_ spend time with such an angel, the man thought. The man was so angered that he didn't notice Rachel approaching him.

"Sir are you okay?" Rachel asked. "You look a little pale."

The man gave a weak smile. He loved hearing Rachel's voice as it was smooth and silky. "I'm okay Miss. Thank you for asking. My name is Nicolas."

"Nice to meet Nicolas,I'm Rachel." But before she could say anything else, Emily called for Rachel. "I have to go, see you around." And Rachel left.

Nicolas smiled and watched Rachel walk back towards Emily and made eye contact with Emily.

Emily who had been watching the exchange didn't like the way Nicolas was behaviourist around Rachel. She found the man creepy and wanted to get Rachel away from him as soon as possible.

Nicolas watched the two women and his smile was yet again wiped off when he saw Emily put an arm around Rachel's shoulder guiding her away from Nicolas's view. What made it worse is that Rachel was laughing at something that Emily had just said.

In an instant, Nicolas remembered why he hated Rachel and he was even more determined to finish the mission he started.

* * *

Two days later, Rachel was waiting for the plumber to come. The night before, Rachel noticed that her tap kept dripping and had called in the plumber. She was due at work in the next hour, but Rachel thought she would still be on time.

As she waited, Rachel called Hannah and told her about the situation,, which Hannah was fine with. She then received a text from Spencer telling her that he was taking her to a restaurant and she needed to dress up. Rachel smiled and sent a quick okay.

When she finished sending the text, she heard a knock at the door.

"The plumber." The voice said.

Rachel recognised the voice but couldn't place where he heard the voice from. Trying to get to the door, Jet began to bark furiously and blocked the way to the door.

At first Rachel thought he was scared and found it cute. But the cuteness soon became annoying as Jet wouldn't let Rachel get to the door. Sighing, Rachel moved Jet to his play pen.

"Jet I don't know what's got into you, but you need to stop." Rachel said, frowning at Jet.

Jet let off another series of barking as he watched Rachel go to the door. Seconds after opening the door, Rachel felt weak and sleepy and fell to the floor. Her vision became hazy as the person at the door stood next to her watching Rachel.

Despite Rachel knowing better,her eyes began to slowly close and she felt her body being lifted.

Jet stopped barking the minute he saw that his owner was on the floor,however began to bark again when he noticed Rachel being lifted and carried out of the apartment.

Within a matter of seconds, Rachel was gone.

* * *

An hour later, Rebecca was on her break. As she made herself a coffee, she checked her phone and noticed that Rachel's shift started half an hour ago but Rebecca was yet to see her friend.

Caleb, one of the nurses that worked closely with Rachel entered the break room.

"Hey Caleb have you seen Rachel?" Rebecca asked.

"No, she hasn't turned up to work yet." Caleb said. "Why?"

"She was due to start her shift half an hour ago." Rebecca said, now worried for her friend. "Rachel's never late ever."

"Have you tried calling her? " Caleb asked as he got a cup.

"Yes and it just rang out." Rebecca said, starting to panic.

Seeing this Caleb turned and gave Rebecca a hug. "I heard Hannah speaking to her about an hour ago. Go speak to Hannah."

Rebecca nodded and left the room. When she reached Hannah's office, she quickly opened the door.

"Dr Churchman, have you heard of knocking?" Hannah asked with her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry Hannah, but have you heard from Rachel?"

"Yes she said she was having a plumber over and that she would be here when her shift starts. Is she not here?" Hanna asked brows frowning.

"No she hasn't arrived. And I've tried calling her but she hasn't picked up." Rebbeca said frantically.

"Okay I'm going to call her." Hannah said.

After a few minutes Hannah put the phone down with slight panic written all over her face.

"Her phone went to voicemail." Hannah said she paled slightly.

"I'm going to call Spencer." Rebecca said.

Spencer picked up.

"Hey Rebecca what's wrong?"

"Have you heard from Rachel in the last half an hour?"

"No,why?"

"Shit. Um… Rachel was supposed to be here about half an hour ago after having an appointment with the plumber. But she hasn't turned up to work and when we tried to call her, she hasn't answered."

Spencer, who was relaxing in his chair, suddenly sat up. It was such a quick motion that it caught the eyes of Morgan.

"Okay Rebecca. Calm down. I'm going to go and ask my friend to track Rachel's phone. I'll call you back." Spencer said as calmly as he could and hung up.

"Hey Reid, what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"That was Rachel's friend. Rachel didn't turn up to work and she's not picking up her phone. I was going to get Gracia to track Rachel's phone."

"Was going to ask me to do what?" Gracia asked as she strolled in.

It was only then did Spencer notice that everyone was surrounding Morgan and his desk.

"Track Rachel's phone. She didn't turn up to work." Morgan filled in.

"Sure thing," Gracia said as she got on of her laptops out.

"Is she normally late?" Emily asked.

"No. She's never later. She is extremely punctual. And if Rachel is going to be late for some strange reason, then she will call to let you know." Spencer rambled on.

"Um… So I tracked Rachel's phone and according to her phone, she's at home." Gracia said looking up from her laptop.

Spencer looked confused. "Rachel never forgets her phone. So she's at home… Then why doesn't she answer her phone?"

"That doesn't make sense." Morgan said. "Something not adding up."

There was silence for a few seconds, before Hotch took over.

"Reid and Morgan, go to Rachel's apartment and see if they can find her." Hotch said. "We won't do anything till you guys call."

Everyone nodded.

Morgan drove to Rachel's apartment and he could tell that Spencer was worried.

"Kid don't worry. I'm sure she's fine and just hasn't answered her phone." Morgan said, having eyes on the road.

"Yeah, I hope so."

"You really like her don't you?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah I do. She helped me a lot recently." Spencer said as he fiddled with his fingers. "When I first met her, she wasn't in the best frame of mind."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But she's getting better now, and I like to think I'm one of the reasons why she's happier." Spencer sighed.

When they finally reached Rachel's apartment complex, they took the stairs to Rachel's floor.

The moment, they reached the floor, they heard a dog barking.

"Isn't that Jet?" Morgan whispered.

"Yeah…" Spencer said.

Both agents pulled their guns out in case they needed to shoot.

"Wait a minute, is Rachel's door open?" Morgan asked.

Panic rushed through Spencer. "Yes and she never leaves her door open either."

Morgan began to pick up speed and soon both of them were running to Rachel's door.

Entering the apartment, Spencer began calling for Rachel and consoled Jet while Morgan inspected around.

Morgan walked towards the kitchen counter and took a deep breath.

"Reid come here." Morgan said, fear in his voice.

"What's wrong?" Spencer said as he came close.

"We have a problem." Morgan said looking down at a piece of paper.

Spencer looked down at the piece of paper that had hand written text.

**Everyone must pay for the sins they have done. Payday will come for everyone, but for this pretty girl, her payday has come sooner than she thought.**

* * *

Spencer looked up. "I think we need to call Hotch."

Within ten minutes, the whole of the BAU apart from Gracia were in Rachel's apartment. The local police had come to investigate. A detective walks up to Hotch.

"Agent Hotchner, I'm Detective Martin Lopez, this isn't the first case we've had this month. Three weeks ago a woman was found missing for about 48hours and found dead. A note was also found in her apartment. Two weeks before, the same thing happened."

"So this would be the third missing person?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah. You guys can have the case, but I want to paged. If that's possible." Detective Lopez said.

"Thank you. Can you send all your information to the BAU office please and as soon as possible."

The detective nodded and walked away.

"Hotch I found Rachel's phone, it was by her bedside." Emily said holding Rachel's phone that was now in an evidence bag.

"So atleast we know Rachel doesn't know," Hotch sighed. "How's Spencer?"

"JJ's with him now. He's in Rachel's room trying to see if anything was out of place. By the way he's talking, it sounds like he was here often." Emily said.

"We need to find Rachel alive for his sake." Hotch said quietly. "I don't think he can take another loss."

Emily looked down. "We will find Rachel."

Hotch nodded "Has someone called Rachel's mother?"

"I asked Gracia to check that out, she came short. Rachel's an orphan." Morgan said walking up to the pair.

"Wait what?" Emily said. "So the woman that came with Rachel isn't Rachel's mother. So who was she?"

"Hannah is Rachel's boss." Spencer said as he walked out of Rachel's bedroom. "She was more comfortable calling Hannah her mother than introducing her as her boss."

Emily nodded. "Have you told Hannah then?"

"No, I can't tell Hannah over the phone. I'll need to be there." Spencer whispered.

The team could tell that the disappearance of Rachel was affecting Spencer. JJ looked at Hotch.

"Reid a word." Hotch said and Spencer followed him.

"Yes Hotch."

"Spencer I need you to tell me now if you can't handle this case. This case hits home in many ways. I need you to be able to function." Hotch said gently.

"I'm fine Hotch. I just want to find the prick that's taken Rachel. I want to find her alive." Spencer said in a small voice.

Hotch sighed, knowing that feeling. He remembered when Haley and Jack were in danger and wanting to help so badly.

"Fine, you can continue working on the case. But the minute I think you can't handle it anymore, I'm taking you off the case." Hotch said and patted Spencer on the shoulder. "JJ, I want you and Morgan to go to the hospital with Spencer."

The two agents nodded and left with Spencer.


	19. Chapter 19

**Trigger Warning: Mentions of blood, death, drugs, swearing and some smacking.**

* * *

**Author Note: I am not a profiler, so I apologise if the "profile" is wrong. I have no experience with the police and have depicted ideas from what I have seen from TV shows, so I am sorry if it is not correct.**

* * *

_**Don't lie to me unless you're absolutely certain that I will never find the truth.- Unknown**_

* * *

The drive to the hospital was quiet, nobody having the heart to talk. Once they arrived at the hospital, Spencer quickly got out of the car and went straight into the hospital . Morgan and JJ sighed. It was so weird seeing Spencer acting frantic as he always did things in order.

"Spencer! Have you seen Rachel?" Rebecca asked the minute the agents walked into the hospital.

"Rebecca I want you to meet Agent Jaerau and Agent Morgan. They work with me. I need us to go and have a talk with Hannah in her office." Spencer said in a soft voice.

Rebecca nodded and walked them to Hannah's office. When everyone was inside, Hannah spoke first.

"Do you guys know where Rachel is? And why are there two other agents here?"

Morgan looked at JJ and took the lead.

"Ma'am, when we tracked Rachel's phone and found that it was at Rachel's apartment. However when we reached the apartment, we couldn't find her."

Hannah looked confused.

"Maybe she went out?" Hannah asked, hopefully, tears in her eyes.

"When we reached there, there was a handwritten note saying that Rachel was kidnapped." Morgan said slowly.

Hannah finally broke down in tears as she sat down, JJ handed her a tissue and hugged her. Rebecca looked pale as if she had seen a ghost.

"Spencer, do you think it's got anything to do with the death of her brother. I mean… In three months it will mark a year since his death." Rebecca asked in a small voice.

Spencer took a deep breath in.

"I don't think so Rebecca, his death was ruled as an accident." Spencer spoke for the first time since he spoke to Rebecca earlier.

"Rachel had a brother?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. His name was Jackson Robert. He wasn't related to Rachel by blood, but they two had adopted each other when they were kids. He was a police officer, and one night he was on his way home with his girlfriend when he hit a tree. He was rushed into hospital where Rachel treated him. However, he soon died due to hisinjuries. His girlfriend survived but she's okay." Spencer filled in.

"An accident?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, there was something slippery on the road. At least that's what the report said." Rebecca said.

Morgan thought for a while. "Has anything weird happened recently Rebecca? Has Rachel seemed distant?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No nothing was out of the ordinary. Was there more than one case? I know that the BAU usually gets involved when there are multiple cases."

JJ sighed. "There were two other cases which we think might be related but we hope to find Rachel soon."

Just then JJ's phone began to ring and she was on the phone call for a matter of seconds before hanging up.

"That was Hotch, they were looking through the previous cases and found something."

* * *

Rachel heard a buzz like the buzz you here on security doors. She heard mumbles of Spanish but couldn't make anything out of it as her head was spinning. Rachel felt stiff and weak and despite wanting to open her eyes, she couldn't. It was as if stones were weighing her eyelids down.

The taste of blood filled Rachel's mouth and then she realised that she had rope tied around her mouth.

Rachel froze.

She didn't know where she was nor could she remember what happened. Thrashing around, Rachel tried to wiggle or at least move around, when she heard voices.

"Boss, she's waking up."

"Give her a shot."

Within seconds Rachel's mind was in peaceful darkness.

* * *

Back at the BAU, JJ felt sick to her stomach. In front of her were pictures that were found at the crime scene of each woman that was kidnapped before Rachel.

With everyone gathered around the table, each member looked at the pictures that were found at the crime scene. After much thought Gideon spoke up.

"I think Rachel was the primary victim."

Everyone looked up from what they were doing.

Gideon continued. "Sandra Jun is an 18 year old woman who's an orphan and has been one all her life. Where she was discovered, the picture was of a young puppy. A puppy of a similar breed to Jet. The next victim is Lucy Shauna, a 30 year old woman who was a doctor in the ER but tended to work on the paediatric ward. Lucy also had a brother that was killed in the line of duty. Where she was discovered, was a picture of the same type and model of Rachel's car. This person wanted Rachel all along."

"But why though? And what do they want with Rachel? From the note left at Rachel's it sounds like the person is angry at Rachel and feels like she should pay for what she's done." Emily said. "The Unsub thinks it's personal."

"Chloe Jenkins." Spencer said out loud.

"Chloe who?" Morgan asked.

Spencer looked up and saw everyone was looking at him. "Chloe was Rachel's brother's girlfriend. She felt like it was Rachel's fault that Jackson had died. I spoke to her a few months ago saying that if she tried to do anything to Rachel, I would put a restraining order on her. Chloe was shaken and agreed to stay away from her."

"Restraining order? What did she do?" Emily asked.

"There was an incident that turned violent which Chloe caused."

"Emily, you come with me. We're going to visit Chloe." Hotch said.

Just before Hotch and Emily left, Garcia walked in a hurry.

"Guys I found something! I was looking at the security cameras around Rachel's apartment and found what I think is to be the van that was disguised as a plumber van. I tracked the van's plates and found a hit. Five blocks down the road there is a warehouse and the van's been parked there for the last ten minutes."

"A warehouse is the best place to hide someone." Emily said.

"Let's go." Hotch said.

As everyone was getting ready to leave Detective Martin Lopez came in.

"Where is everyone going?" He asked.

"We think we might have found where they are keeping Rachel. Five blocks from Rachel's apartment there is a warehouse." JJ said in a hurry.

"My team will come with you for backup. But I need to make a call first." Martin said.

The team nodded and were off. Garciastayed in the briefing room and Martin walked out the room. As Garcialooked at the board and wasn't listening to the detective's conversation, until she heard something odd.

"Code blue. You need to move. I can't do that! It will look wrong. Hey, listen I need you to move okay. No of course not. I'm not an idiot!" Martin hissed into his phone. "Listen I'll fix it okay? There's nothing to worry about. You do your job and I'll do mine." And then Martin hung up and ran off towards the exit.

Garciastood in the briefing room confused and slightly worried.

* * *

Rachel had woken up from the last blackout, but this time she was more aware of what was going on. She knew she was tied up and she knew that there was a throbbing pain in her side. Moving her arms around, Rachel felt a liquid on her fingered and she soon figured out that she was bleeding, from what she didn't know. She still felt weak so she knew fighting back would be useless.

"We need to move." A voice laced in a Mexico accent said. "We're not safe here."

Seconds later, Rachel felt herself being picked up and thrown down to what felt like metal.

"Oi! Be careful ! Boss wants her alive." Said another voice.

"Quick they're here!"

"Shit, her boot fell off."

"We don't have time! Quick in the van."

"Boss her necklace came off."

"Hide it somewhere. I'll have someone come and get it."

"I left in the drains boss."

"Good."

"Hey she's awake again."

"Give her another shot then."

Rachel this time began to groan in protest,but there was no point because the minute she began to fight, she was welcomed back into darkness.

* * *

The team entered the warehouse only to find it deserted.

"Guys, I found a boot and blood." JJ called.

Spencer and Hotch walked towards JJ.

"That's Rachel's boot." Spencer whispered. "She was here."

"They must have left in a hurry. As if someone told them we were coming." Emily said.

"Whatever happened we know Rachel is still alive. She's injured but she's alive." Hotch said. "We should head back to the office and see if we can find anything."

When the team entered the office, Garciawas there to greet them and took Morgan to the side.

"Morgan I don't like Detective Lopez, there's something wrong about him. When you guys left, he was on the phone and had a weird conversation with the other person. He was angry but I don't know why. I decided to look into him when you guys were gone. Remember Rachel's brother Jackson? Guess who was once Jackson's partner."

"Detective Lopez?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. When Jackson died, Lopez was the one to investigate the case. It might be a coincidence that he is working on two cases that are related to Rachel, but I find that weird."

"Look and see if you can find anything on this Detective. Don't tell anyone just in case it gets back to Spencer or even worse Detective Lopez himself. If he does know anything, and finds out we are on his tail, he could possibly have Rachel killed in an instant." Morgan said after some thought. "Try and find a link between Rachel and Detective Lopez."

Garcianodded and went back to her cave, determination written on her face.

Morgan sighed and began to walk back to his team, but saw Detective Lopez getting some coffee. With what Garciahad said on his mind, Morgan went to have a talk with the Detective.

"Detective Lopez, you heard what happened at the warehouse?"

"Martin. Please call me Martin. I heard that you found Rachel's boot and some blood. I'm guessing the chances of finding Rachel alive are becoming slimmer. Am I right?"

"Not necessarily. We don't have confirmation that the blood is Rachel's. For all we know it could be the kidnapper or kidnappers. All we need to do is focus on what we have."

"When you guys left, my team swept the place to see if we could find anything but we couldn't find anything."

"Hmm." Morgan replied. He noticed that Martin was anxious about this case and seeing he was a detective, he would have dealt with kidnappings before. "I was wondering if there is any detail that you might have left out of your report or anything."

Martin froze for a second and began to fidget with something in his pocket. To anyone else they wouldn't have noticed, but Morgan was a profiler and it was his job to notice these slight changes in behaviour.

"Nothing comes to mind, Agent," Martin said, sweating a little.

Morgan just nodded. "The team are going to be discussing ideas, maybe you should join us."

Martin nodded and left with Morgan. Morgan listened and turned his attention to what his teammates were saying. He began inputting ideas and almost forgot about Martin.

"Maybe you're looking at the wrong thing," Martin said, while sitting at the desk. The rest of the team stared at him.

To a group of profilers it was obvious that Martin was nervous about something, but of what they didn't know.

"Go on," Hotch said, eyes trained on the detective.

"We know that Rachel was an orphan. Maybe it has nothing to do with Rachel, but it's to do with her parents. The note did say that Rachel needed to be punished." Martin said as he continued to fiddle with something in his pocket. Morgan noticed that whatever was in his pocket had a chain.

"That could work and seeing we don't have any other leads, we can dig into it." Hotch said.

Everyone nodded and walked to go do different things. Martin stood up from sitting on top of the desk and the chain in his pocket got caught on something, pulling the item out of the pocket.

Morgan didn't notice as he was now by his desk concentrating on finding some information.

Smack!

"Where the fuck is Rachel!"

Everyone looked up.

Morgan saw something he never thought he would. Detective Martin Lopez was holding his left cheek, as a violent handprint began to show. He had stepped back from the force of the hit and Morgan began to look for the hitter. Standing near Martin, Spencer was curling his fist raging in anger, his face was turning red and he looked so un-Reid like. It took Morgan a second before he realised that Spencer was about to punch the Detective and was about to stop him, but Hotch beat him to it.

"Reid! Why the hell did you do that?!" Hotch yelled at the youngest member.

"You should asking him where the fuck is Rachel?!" Spencer yelled back as he tried to launch himself out of Hotch's grip.

"Reid stop it!" Morgan yelled. "Just because we can't find Rachel doesn't mean you have to lash out on someone!"

"Then why the fuck did he have Rachel's necklace in his pocket!" Spencer yelled, pointing to the necklace that was still caught in between a draw.

Morgan's eyes widened as he recognised the jewellery.

"It's not Rachel's necklace!" Martin denied.

"I bet you that engraved on the back of it, it will say 'Saving lives, one day at a time, just like always.' I also bet that inside the pendant there will be a picture of myself, Rachel and Jet!" Spencer yelled, still curling his fists.

Gideon went to the necklace in question and gave it to a member of Martin's team.

She turned round and faced the agents looking serious and began to read the message aloud. "The message says, 'Saving lives, one day at a time just like always'." The lady then with shaky hands opened the pendant and her heart stopped, holding the picture for everyone to see.

Martin's team gasped and Hotch's fist began to clench, wanting to punch Martin himself.

Martin saw the situation he was in, and despite his better judgement, began to run. He was soon put to a stop when Emily put her foot out trapping the fallen detective.

Morgan walked over to Martin and handcuffed him. "You should have taken the chance to tell the truth without being forced. Now you will answer many, many questions." Morgan said dangerously low, lifting Martin and taking him into an interrogation room.

The lady that was holding Rachel's necklace handed it back to Gideon who gave it to Spencer. Spencer's eyes began to fill with tears as he wrapped his fingers around Rachel's necklace. He couldn't believe the person that was supposed to be helping find Rachel was actually making things more difficult. But he knew that now they had a lead, there was a strong chance they would find Rachel.

Hotch put his hand on Spencer's shoulder, who was now calming down. "Spencer, we are closer to finding Rachel. We have a lead. We will find Rachel. Don't give up hope ye-"

"Guys! I found something!"


	20. Chapter 20

**Trigger warning: Mentions of blood, guns and death**

* * *

_**Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one- Bruce Lee**_

* * *

Everyone turned and looked at Garcia. She looked proud at whatever she had discovered.

"What is it Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"I began looking into Detective Lopez's files earlier. I found that he was also the detective that investigated the death of Jackson, Rachel's brother. I looked at the report in detail and the death was ruled as an accident. I then looked into Detective Lopez's family. I found that Detective Lopez's has a brother that is a member of a gang. His name is Nicolas Lopez and he has been in prison for drug possession and assault. I was able to pull a picture of Nicolas." Garcia said, holding up a picture.

Emily gave a small gasp. "The other day when we went out with Rachel, she approached a man that looked exactly like Nicolas. I remember him even saying that his name was Nicolas. That means that he's been stalking Rachel."

"It goes further back than that. I looked at Nicolas's phone records and it shows that he was at the hospital multiple times. The week it was Henry's birthday, Rachel received some flowers that were delivered by Nicolas dressed as a delivery man. Three days later he was back at the hospital and bumped into Rebecca. And I also found footage that he was at Rachel's apartment this morning dressed as a plumber but he had someone with him. I tried to track his phone but it's off." Garcia said, looking sad that she couldn't help anymore.

JJ thought for a moment then disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later. "I just spoke to Rebecca and asked her about the flowers that Rachel received. Rebecca told me that with the flowers came a note claiming that they were from a family called The Evans."

Spencer froze. "The Evans?"

"Yeah."

Spencer thought for a second. "Garcia, in your findings did you ever come across the name Isabella Lopez?"

"Yes, her name came popping up. She was sent to jail a few weeks ago after being arrested for child abuse. And happens to be the sister of both Martin and Nicolas. Why?"

"A few months ago, Rachel found the Evan's child was being abused by Isabella Lopez. I helped watch the child's behaviour with Isabella,and with the help of Rachel, we found that Isabella was abusing the child. Isabella thought it was Rachel's fault that she was found out." Spencer said.

"From what we can see, the stalking started to happen around the time Isabella was put into jail. Her brothers must want revenge for what Rachel did and it was the perfect plan. With Martin as a detective, it means that Nicolas was always one step ahead and as a result knew that we were doing and moved." Hotch said. "I'm going to go and interrogate Martin with Gideon. I want the rest of you to see if you can find a place where Nicolas would be holding Rachel."

Everyone nodded and began to move apart from Spencer.

"Hotch, I want to be there when you question Martin." Spencer said.

Hotch turned around. "Spencer, you are too involved now, and you are going to allow your emotions to get the better of you. If you want, you can watch but you can not by any means, help in the questioning."

Spencer nodded and walked to go and watch the questioning. Despite wanting to listen to what was happening, Spencer's mind wandered into thoughts. A hand on his shoulder was what brought him back to reality. It was JJ.

Spencer gave JJ a watery smile, as he tried to keep the tears at bay. JJ watched her best friend battle with his emotions and found tears coming to her eyes. It was so unlike Reid to lash out at someone, especially turning violent and it hurt her knowing that Spencer was being torn apart. She had seen for herself the way Rachel and Spencer were around each other and her suspicions where that either one of them had feelings for each other.

"I was planning on taking Rachel to a restaurant today and telling her everything. Everything about Maeve. I was then going to ask her out and seeing how those things went I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend. But now I might not even have the chance to tell her how I feel about her. I feel like all the women that I want to pursue something romantic, either don't like me or end up dead. Maybe the problem is me." Spencer whispered, finally allowing the tears to fall.

JJ looked at her best friend and wrapped her arms around Spencer and held him as he sobbed. "Spencer, Rachel loves you. You're not the problem,it's not your fault Maeve dead, it was her stalker. It's not your fault that Rachel was taken. How was you supposed to know that something like this would happen?"

Spencer just sobbed in response.

"Tell me a typical weekend for you and Rachel." JJ said hoping that would help Spencer calm down.

"Umm… I would go to her apartment and we would have breakfast together. We would then go to the park and while Rachel would play with Jet, I would watch and read a book. Sometimes, I would also play with Jet but most times it's Rachel. We then get hungry and we would go to a cafe and get something to eat. Rachel hates it when I pay so we take turns paying. Later we would get groceries for mine and her apartment. We would then go back to Rachel's apartment and have some dinner and then watch a movie. If it's late then I would stay.

The next day, Rachel and I would go to Hannah's house and have a family dinner. It's really nice. Even though Rachel doesn't have any biological family, it's nice that she has people that she can call family. When I went there for the first time, they made me feel welcome and were really nice. I became close to Hannah's husband, and he taught me a lot. One weekend he even took me fishing and we talked about different things…" Spencer trailed off now calm.

JJ gave a weak smile. It was nice to know that Spencer had people to talk to outside of work.

The side door opened and Hotch walked in. "Martin has confessed to planning the kidnapping and aiding the kidnapping. He gave the current location of Rachel. He also gave another confession. Martin also said the accident that caused Jackson's death was manslaughter. He said the road was indeed slippery but it wasn't for Jackson, it was for a rival gang. When Nicolas saw that it wasn't the rival gang member but a police officer, he panicked and called Martin. Either way, he's going to be in prison for a long time or for life."

"Wow, I never expected that to be honest." JJ said.

"Hotch can I come to the take down? I want to be there."Spencer said looking up at his boss.

Hotch nodded.

* * *

Rachel groaned as the bag was taken off her face. She found herself tied to a chair with Nicolas standing in front of her.

"Look who finally turned up?" Nicolas snarled.

Rachel whimpered, causing Nicolas to smirk.

"I like seeing you in pain. It reminds you that you're not perfect. You have faults just like everyone else." Nicolas said as he tugged Rachel's hair causing Rachel to scream.

Nicolas gave a humorous laugh. "You think you can play God? You think you have the right to ruin someone's life at the click of the fingers! Well have news for you pretty face, you're not God and you must pay for playing God."

Nicolas pulled out a gun causing Rachel to scream, tears running down her face. "Remember Isabella Lopez? The girl now in jail because of you? That's my little sister and like the big brother I am, I had to go and deal with the bullies. Just like your big brother Jackson did.

That being said, he's not going to come and save you now is he? Of course he's not, how could he? He's dead. And guess who killed him? I did! I mean it was by accident but I'm glad he's gone.

So that just leaves you and me."

Rachel cried.

Every possible thing that could go wrong was happening.

Rachel began to plead for her life, saying over and over that she was sorry but her words fell on deaf ears.

Nicolas raised his gun smiling as he did so.

"Drop the gun Nicolas, it's over!" Hotch yelled. "Step away from Rachel."

JJ,Gideon, Morgan and Spencer had their guns trained on Nicolas.

"What, this gun?" Nicolas said as he fired the gun in his hand above Rachel's head.

The sound of the gun made Rachel jump in the chair caused her to whimper in pain as the rope tied around her dug into her side.

"We will shoot you!" Morgan threatened.

"Hmm, I'm sure you will. I have a deal and you can get this doll face." Nicolas said. "And if you say no, I'll just use this bad boy," and he fired a bullet next to Rachel's leg.

"What's the deal?" Gideon asked.

"I know Dr Reid is here, I mean he wouldn't miss this chance to save Doll face. I want him and you get this girl for free.

Spencer moved into view and lowered his gun, much to the dismay of the rest of the agents.

"Fine, you can have me. But give Rachel back first." Spencer said, hands up in the air. He looked at Rachel and saw the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were puffy from screaming and he could tell that Rachel wanted to sleep.

Nicolas turned in the direction of Spencer and smiled. He pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Spencer looked down expecting to feel blood or pain but he felt nothing. He looked and saw that Nicolas was on the floor with a bullet in his head. Emily stood where Nicolas once was, smok still coming from her gun, that had fired the shot.

With tears in his eyes, Spencer ran to Rachel and quickly untied her. There were many knots and with a knife that was lying around Spencer cut Rachel loose. She fell into his arms and clung unto him for dear life. Tears streamed down both of their cheeks and Spencer held Rachel.

The rest of the team watched their genius, be reunited with his friend and brought everyone to tears. In so many ways, they knew they had come close to finding Rachel dead and knew that Spencer would have gone off the rails.

JJ went over to Emily and gave her a hug. Gideon had gone out to call the EMTs and the local police. Hotch and Morgan went over to Nicholas's lifeless body. Everyone was glad that the horrible piece of work was dead.

The team didn't interrupt the reunion and went around doing different things.

When Rachel had stopped crying, because she physically couldn't, Spencer pulled her out of the hug.

"It's over Rae, it's over." He whispered.

She gave a weak nod and rested her head on Spencer's chest. "Thank you, Spency."

Morgan approached Spencer. "Hey Spencer, you need to let the doctors look over Rachel."

Spencer nodded and placed Rachel on a stretcher and slowly walked away.

"No, Spencer." Rachel called weakly holding her hand out to Spencer, who took Rachel's hand and held it all the way to the ambulance.

Morgan gave a sad smile as JJ approached him. "Rachel is already finding it hard to be separated from Reid."

"What do you expect? She has just gone through some traumatic stuff. She's the closest to Spencer here and she needs him right now. Come on let's go to the hospital."


End file.
